0052
by XanXenXan
Summary: No one told me that the first 11 years of my second life would be spent in a glass tank as a test subject. No one told me that I would be reborn in a fictional universe and granted superpowers. No one told me that my powers can bring about so much destruction if I didn't have control over it. No one told me if there is a purpose for me being here at all.
1. Chapter 1- Number fifty-two and X-23

**Author's note: I'm not familiar with the Marvel verse, I'm simply borrowing a few characters and insert it here. Don't expect this story to be fully compliant with canon, or for the canon facts to be completely right. You have been warned. Canon is too confusing to follow at times anyway. **

**This will largely follow the MCU verse. I wrote this just because I found this idea interesting. **

**In any case, hope you enjoy the story.**

* * *

"Unit one through three reporting in! No signs of life on the east side!"

"Search harder! There _have_ to be survivors!"

"Sir! We had already searched five-"

"Just keep searching!"

"**YES SIR**!"

In all of his career as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in thirty years, Rubert Goriech, the current Commander of the 2nd Unit, had never seen a massacre on this level.

Nothing. Nothing is left.

It's not just the townsfolk or the livestock that they raised. It's also not just the trees, grass, flowers, or anything that was once a living organism. Even anything that is non-living are gone. The _ground_ itself is gone. None were spared. It's like the entire village was forcefully ripped away from reality and everything that was supposed to be here was erased.

All that is left is just a gaping hole where a small tribal African village once was. Rubert didn't even know this village existed until he was ordered to investigate this case.

There's no blood, no body, no signs, but the taint of death still hangs in the air. No one wants to be here with how haunting this place is, but it is their job as S.H.I.E.L.D. to investigate _what the hell_ happened before they arrived. From what they knew, the village was at least well-off enough to have a shared telephone located in the middle of the tribe's grounds. They had sent an emergency message, their equivalent of 911 to the nearest police outpost that a certain group of people had come to start a massacre on the settlement, but all communications went dark shortly after. The police arrived as soon as they can, determined to wipe the invading terrorists out for good.

However, what they saw were beyond their understanding. There was simply nothing left but a big gaping hole where the village once was. Like a meteorite had crashed and obliterated the village on a molecular level and left a humongous crater wider than anything they had ever seen before, except that there was no meteorite.

There are no weapons they can currently think of that can cause such destruction. It definitely wasn't a nuclear bomb or any type of explosives. Nobody's radar picked up anything that might suggest such a possibility. No radiation, no heat signatures. Zero, zip, nada. If it wasn't for the distress phone call no one would have found out about this until very much later given how secluded this place is. This is obviously a case of supernatural powers at work and given that S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers had very recently thwarted an alien invasion at New York, they were called in to help. It was decided that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents should be first sent in to investigate the cause before deciding if the Avengers need to step in.

Further investigation led them to believe that this is the work of Siren Song, a small but terrifyingly effective terrorist group that also double as an arms dealer dedicated to creating the 'best weapon' in existence. They had always been a thorn on their side, but they were very elusive and had managed to evade capture for years. From the looks of it, this is definitely their work. However, their modus operandi usually meant that they will publicly declare that a certain catastrophe was their doing not long after they had caused it, almost like showing off their 'achievements'. It is also partly an effort on their part to attract more buyers to fund their researches or purchase their weapons from them. It's how they had always operated, but yet even after five days there are no announcements from them. Or anyone. No one had stepped up to claim responsibility for this mess. Were they wiped out in this bizarre massacre as well? Was this event an accident? Was a third party involved? If so, which side is he or she on? Is it even human?

So many questions, too little answers.

There are no traces to follow and no survivors to question. They doubt this is a work of a genocidal weapon. Usages of weapons always leave clues behind unlike what the situation that they are facing now. Assuming that it really wasn't a weapon, the only thing that Rubert and his agents are sure of is that whoever or whatever caused this is very likely a single entity. An entity so strong that it wiped out an entire village and possibly together with a terrorist group even before they had the time to react and do anything. It's the only explanation that they can currently think of. There are evidences uncovered that Siren Song had plans to come here to start a massacre. Given how proud Siren Song are of their past works, _someone_ from their little group ought to claim responsibility by now if this is their doing. Yet, no one had stepped up. Either this is not the work of Siren Song (_unlikely, given how credible their evidences are_), or they had accidentally offed themselves by playing with something that they cannot control

This level of destruction alone is enough to classify this unknown entity as an Avenger level threat. Imagine if something like this were to happen in New York out of the blue. Rubert doubts that even the Avengers are capable of stopping it in time.

"Lanks." Rubert called for his second-in-command, a promising agent that Rubert is sure will rise in their ranks one day as well. "Request for HQ to send out a mission request to the Avengers. We need their help to stop whatever had caused this."

"Sir, what rank are we classifying this as?"

"Avenger level. Whatever this is, it is definitely an Avenger level threat." Rubert said grimly as he clenched his fist in rage. Just _who_ is cold-blooded enough to do this?

"Are we giving this unknown threat a name?"

Rubert gave another sweeping look at their surroundings. The sight of the gaping hole enters his eyes and a certain description came to mind. He is more inclined to think that this is definitely the work of something supernatural instead of a weapon, a form of power that is able to erase everything in a certain area. A brand of power that may or may not be associated to extra-terrestrial life. And frankly speaking, after the battle in New York, the whole world is paranoid about experiencing another alien invasion. The ability of this unknown weapon or power is also highly likely to be able to cause immediate effects with little to no time to respond to it.

Whatever this is, death follows wherever it walks. It comes and go like a silent breeze. No warnings and no indications of its presence other than a large gaping hole once it had done its job.

"The Silent Death." Rubert whispered out in a soft voice that cut through the quiet air, which had seemed to go still at the lack of life here.

"For now, we are naming this unknown threat the Silent Death."

* * *

_"…Experiment Number oh-oh-five-two: Code Name: Rey… Vitals all clear, mutant genes assimilated perfectly… Commencing test number three-oh-seven…"_

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_"…Day one-three-five-one… Experiment Number fifty-two: Code Name Rey… Commencing test number one-nine-six-eight. Objective of test: determine nature of X Gene written into test subject. From current observations, abilities in test subject is likely to be a form of space-time manipulation."_

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_"Day two-four-seven-five… Experiment Number fifty-two: Code Name Rey… Experiment is a success. Rey is the only living test subject left alive. X Gene written into Rey…"_

_"WE DID IT! THE ULTIMATE WEAPON! WITH THIS, WE CAN BE THE RICHEST!"_

_"Leader, Rey's power is still too uncontrollable. One misstep and we will all die together with him. We need a way to control him."_

_"You are the scientist, you think of a way."_

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_"Day two-five-one-one… Experiment Number fifty-two: Code Name Rey… Best way to restrain his uncontrollable random bursts of power is through a limiter. Suggested to Leader that a collar is not an efficient idea, but he still wants to go through with it. However, doing so will restrict his ability to speak. Not that he can speak to anyone through a glass tank, or we need him to speak at all…"_

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_"Day two-six-two-three… It has been eight years since Rey was created. He hasn't taken a step out of the glass tank he's born in. Leader wants to weaponize him ASAP, but no other alternatives has yet been found to use his powers in a safer way without endangering our allies."_

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_"Day two-six-four-one. The first real experiment to gauge Rey's strength is both a success and a failure. He is able to immediately wipe out half an island when the trigger is activated. He is truly a weapon of mass destruction. However, he is unable to control it and nearly half of our organisation has been wiped out as well. Thankfully the island is not under watch by any authorities, so we remained undiscovered. On a side note, Rey is suffering from a case of trauma. Will need to investigate if artificially created mutants from normal non-mutant human embryo is stable enough to not lose control over their power when feeling extreme guilt."_

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_. _

_"Day three-two-seven-six. Had I done the right thing? No matter the method Rey was brought into this world, he is still just a child. I initially agreed to conduct this illegal experiment to test the boundaries of science, but is this the correct choice? No, it is too late to turn back. I had invested too much into this. Huh, what am I doing talking to a child trapped in a glass tank? I must be suffering from a lack of sleep thanks to this research…"_

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_"Day three-eight-three-one. Leader has ordered us to wipe out a small village in Africa to announce to the world the power that our organisation now holds. We have no choice. We are lacking in funds and this is the best way to advertise ourselves to get ourselves more clients. Rey should be able to kill every single occupant in the village with his powers. All we need to do is to be very careful the moment we remove the collar. If all goes well, this will be the last experiment conducted. This will also be the final entry and recording I will take on this experiment. I, Scientist Elitrich Poikisno, hereby conclude Experiment "X Creation". The results of this experiment that spanned across eleven years is a success. The reason for starting this experiment was because X Gene cannot be naturally implanted into normal humans to create artificial mutants, and even then, for the few who survived the process the X Gene in them remained dormant. But if we rewire every single DNA of an embryo to include a replica of an X Gene, we could possibly create an artificial X Gene in a non-mutant. Even better, we might even be able to create whatever powers we desire simply by rewriting the created X Gene in the correct genetic code! Rewriting every single DNA is a tedious process even in an embryo, but the results speaks for themselves! I am the first person in this world capable of such a feat. You, Rey, are my biggest success."_

_"Oi! Elitrich! We are moving! Stop recording and bring the weapon out!"_

_"Leader, the recording is almost done. I just need to physically document his abilities. Could you kindly give me another minute?"_

_"Be fucking quick about it!"_

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_._

_"Now that Leader is gone, I can now properly document and record the nature of the power Rey is imbued with. After much testing, I can say for certain that the form of Rey's mutant abilities has manifested in the form of Spatial Manipulation. He can create pockets of unstable space around himself, which takes on a light bluish glow whenever it manifests. Anything that comes into contact with the pockets of unstable space can be teleported elsewhere or erased out of existence. Whether the object is really erased or simply teleported to an unknown location remains to be seen, but that is irrelevant for our cause as long as it can create wanton destruction. Anything Rey's power touches simply vanishes, if it makes it easier to visualise. It is an untouchable and absolute offense because nothing that we know of can effectively stop it. Rey can kill someone simply by creating a pocket of unstable space around your head or your heart, take it away from your body, and no one can do anything to prevent that. It is also observed that Rey can use this power to open portals between space, allowing for instantaneous travel from Point A to Point B even if he has very rudimentary control over it as of now. That will have to be fixed. He would have escaped if we didn't shoot him in the leg in time before suppressing his powers. However, this power has another benefit of protecting the user from fatal injuries by automatically manifesting itself and surround him whenever he is under extreme stress, creating a spherical shield of unstable space to protect him from harm. This also acts as a trigger for us to weaponize Rey. If Rey thinks he is about to suffer a fatal wound, his powers will automatically activate to protect him. It has been observed that his power will first surround him defensively before the influence of his power expands outwards to cut through all space in the vicinity in a spherical manner, leaving behind a crater void of anything. Depending on the magnitude of the emotional stress he is under, the scale of the destruction can also increase. He cannot control it, because feeling fear in the face of death is a knee-jerk reflex. You cannot stop fear. No one can stop fear. His fear of dying will automatically summon his powers whether he likes it or not. He is unkillable, because his powers don't allow him to die. His powers destroy everything else to keep him alive no matter the cost, acting almost like a sentient parasite with the sole goal of self-preservation. Rey is a weapon, because all we need to do to force him to kill for us is to seriously attempt to kill him and an entire village worth of people will be gone in the next instant, regardless of whether he wants it to happen or not. He is only a child now, I cannot imagine how destructive he can be when he reaches adulthood. Thankfully, the collar prevents him from using his powers as long as the collar is on his person. It is the only thing stopping Rey from using his powers against us. The bracelets that we made from stolen alien tech helps to keep us safe too, making us immune to Rey's powers whenever we come into contact with it. Although I will have to research more on how it even works in the first place. I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of the alien technology, let alone understand it."_

**_BANG BANG BANG_**

_"It seems our Leader is as impatient as ever with how he is banging at the doors of my lab. I will have to end the recording here. By tomorrow, the whole world will know the power of our organisation, Siren Song, and my success in creating the first artificial mutant from a non-mutant embryo, resulting in an artificial mutant capable of naturally using his mutant powers. With further research, I believe that even the nature of the mutant powers can be written and selectively chosen. People can choose whether they want to fly, spit fire, control the weather, having telekinetic powers, and many more. All we need is further research to prove my theory. The funds should start coming in after our successful display tomorrow."_

**_BANGBANGBANGBANG_**

_"Rey, you are truly a monstrous weapon, the best creation the world has ever seen in centuries. You are the vilest weapon in existence. Your existence proves that every human can be a mutant. Your power makes you a walking nuke. Your existence may very well incite an unprecedented arms race, or possibly another World War."_

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_"KILL THEM ALL!"_

_"AHH! TERRORISTS! RUN!"_

_"HAHAHA! There's nowhere to run! Boys, bring out Rey!"_

_"Leader, won't we get killed if we just release him here like that?"_

_"You idiot, how many times must I tell you? Our gadgets are capable of bouncing the effect away from us. The alien tech we recovered in New York have some mindfucking abilities, remember? We tested it!"_

_"You heard the Leader! Bring Rey out!"_

_"He's squirming too much! Behave, number fifty-two!"_

_WHAM! _

_THUD_

**_CRACK_**

_"Careful! Don't break him!"_

_"What? We can heal everything back up the moment we are done here. Right, Leader?"_

_"Yes. Hurry, the villagers are escaping. Hold the kid down. We need to make a statement to the world today."_

_Clang_

_"Collar removed! Who wanna do the honours of killing the kid? We can all take turns to have our fun when we visit the other villages later. This kid cannot die anyway with how wonky his powers work."_

_"Just hurry."_

_"Alright! Stop moving, kid. It won't even hurt you."_

_"Alright, take aim… fire!"_

**_BANGBANGBANG!_**

**_VHHHMMM!_**

_"Woah, his powers really protected him automatically. Kind of cool."_

_"Ahahaha! Look at him trying to hold his powers back! Oi, kid! Let it go~ Let it go~ Don't hold it back anymore~ HAHAHA!"_

_"Wow, this is the longest he had managed to hold it in so far."_

_"Ooooh! Is that his power? Awesome! Look at how everything around him is disappearing! Is he teleporting them to space or something?"_

_"I think the mad scientist said it is some funny spatial shit. The kid can apparently cut through space, I think."_

_"HAHAHA! SEE THAT, BOYS? THIS IS THE POWER OF OUR ORGANISATION! SIREN SONG IS INVINCIBLE!" _

_"Uh… Leader? Is our alien tech thingy supposed to react that way?"_

_"Huh? What? No way! The alien tech is supposed to be able to protect us from the boy's power! HOW?!"_

_"RUN! Rey's power somehow got stronger from the previous time we used him! Or maybe our tech is failing!"_

_"AHH!"_

_"DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!"_

_"SOMEONE -oof! AH! DON'T – AHHH!"_

_"MONSTER!"_

.

.

.

No, not that. I need to hold my power in. If my power is fully released, all of them will-

"-Rey. Rey! REY!"

_RUN_! damn it! I cannot hold it in any longer!

"REY!"

**RUN**!

"**REY**!"

A sudden sensation of pain jolted me and I immediately sat up.

"Rey! It's me!"

_Laura? What…_

Oh, another nightmare.

"Are you alright? You were thrashing about so violently! Are you-"

I immediately grabbed onto Laura's arm to calm her down before she got too agitated. An agitated Wolverine v2.0 running around is the last thing we need.

"Rey, your night terrors aren't normal. You have been having it every night for two weeks!"

Two weeks? My nightmares will most likely haunt me _for life_. They are the reminders of my sin.

Laura wordlessly handed me a towel, which I accepted gratefully and wiped away the sweat collected on my forehead. I hate going to sleep. Nightmares of my recent action tend to pop up whenever I do so. I had several episodes in a single night when I first met her. It is not as frequent now, but it is still common enough for her to be worried.

We only knew each other for two weeks. But we are all each other have.

It was an unlikely encounter. The uncontrollable eruption of my powers that erased that nameless village also created a small portal for me to fall through. I ended up falling smack dab in the middle of a fierce battle between Laura and someone she told me was called Kimura. I used the word 'was', because the moment Kimura tried to kill me for getting in her way (_even if it was purely by accident_), I had instinctively called upon my powers and swiped my hand in the direction of her head. My spatial powers immediately erased her head out of existence, or maybe it had teleported it somewhere else, I don't know. I still don't truly know how my power even work. In any case, Kimura's head got itself separated from her body and disappeared. By all means, she is dead.

Laura and I then struck an unlikely friendship. She is emotionally stunted, that much is obvious. She is a very skilled fighter and from what little I know about the Marvel verse, an assassin with a kill count that I can never possibly tally.

Oh yeah, have I mentioned I retained some memories from my previous life? I knew I had lived once, and I am sure I was from a different world until I found myself as an infant trapped in a glass tank. My memories are largely fragmented and jumbled, many of them don't make any sense anymore other than managing to remember a few key events about this world. This world that I barely had any knowledge of.

Hearing her introducing herself as Laura Kinney, formerly X-23, struck a bell within me. I had been mostly stuck in a glass tank for the past 11 years of my second life so it took a while, but I remembered. How can I not remember when everybody is talking about the recent alien invasion on New York? Seeing the televisions broadcasting the Avengers in action on the **_NEWS_** (_I'm sure it was_ definitely _not a movie_) when we walked past various cafes is a huge clue too.

And if this is indeed the so-called Earth-616, half of the universe's population will be wiped out in a few years by a purple alien snapping his fingers. Joy.

I am pretty sure my involuntary stunt had put me high up on the Avenger's radar by now, given the scale of destruction my outburst of power had. The threat of an unknown entity able to wipe out an entire village of the face of earth without any trace is definitely something the Avengers will investigate. I won't be surprised if they have a kill-on-sight order for me when they found out about my identity. I'm sure they will, because they are the _Avengers_. I have no doubts that they will be able to find me and they will try to kill me. Maybe I could talk to them if we met and come to a peaceful solution, but I doubt it. I am simply too dangerous. I need to find an uninhabited place devoid of life before then, because I know any attempts to kill me will only become a trigger for me to transform into a spatial bomb that erase everything in a 500m radius.

I don't want to accidentally kill anymore innocents. If my powers cannot be controlled, I need to die without dragging more people with me to the afterlife.

I know dying isn't the be all, end all to everything. But what else can I do? What should I do? Join the Avengers? Hah, like that would be possible. Physically, I'm only a kid. My powers are unstable with the potency equal to or greater than a nuclear weapon. I had just wiped out an entire village who had did me no wrong and that wasn't the full extent of my powers. I know its potency will grow along with my age. I had already lived a life before this, I'm content with that. Living a second time isn't all it's cracked up to be anyway, what with being a lab rat for my entire life until recently. I don't want to hurt innocents by accidentally losing control. If my death can help prevent my powers from killing innocents again, then so be it. What else do I have here that is worth continue living for? Maybe Laura? I know she will be fine without me. It may be hard for her at first if I do manage to die, but I know she can cope with it. She will be fine.

I have no one, no attachments in this world other than my short interaction with Laura. I'm just a passer-by in her life that I'm sure she would forget quickly enough. It's a selfish thought to want to die and just leave, but this is the only freedom I managed to obtain after a long excruciating 11 years of being a prisoner trapped in a glass tank. I finally have the freedom to choose what I want to do with my life.

Including the freedom to choose whether I want to end it, and how I want it to end.

The first problem is, we are currently too close to civilisation and I do not have a good control over my spatial powers to open a portal to wherever I want to go. Using my powers to erase things is easy, getting it to open portals to travel to the exact place I want to go is not. At least not now. Even then, I am not sure if I can find such a place already devoid of life before the Avengers find me. The second problem is, Laura doesn't seem to want to leave my side for whatever reasons. I have no idea why accidentally killing Kimura makes her so fiercely protective of me. I only remembered the bare bones of her history from my previous life which matches with what she shared with me, so I have nothing that can help me get a clear picture of why she reacted this way. I just want her to stay off the Avenger's radar when they inevitably dropped by to say hello.

Her history is tragic enough as it is. Her life is hard enough as it is. I don't want to make things worse for her even if I never managed to recall what her future entails.

Laura went back to lie down beside me in the rundown shack that we found in a place I suspect to be an abandoned farm. Her arms wrapped around my torso as she pulled us close together, something which I never expected her to do since she is emotionally and socially stunted. Her attachment to me is unhealthy. I cannot allow myself to be her anchor since the possibility of me dying is now at an all-time high with the Avengers possibly hunting me down. My powers are too uncontrollable. The moment I feel extreme fear is the moment when it becomes a trigger to cause an uncontrollable violent eruption of unstable space around me. I am a walking bomb, a walking calamity.

I need to be controlled or to be put down.

"Laura?"

"Hmm?" She mumbled with her eyes still closed. We are of the same physical age, if we recall our respective ages correctly as best as we can. We are not too sure about exactly how old we are since we were both test subjects. Test subjects don't need to know their ages or names. All we need is to be an obedient test subject.

"You do know that my powers cannot be controlled and it may kill you, right?"

"I know."

"You know that the Avengers are most likely on my case already, and that they will probably find me soon. Right?"

"I know." She mumbled out another reply, adding in a small yawn this time.

"We will need to go our own separate ways sooner or later. You understand, right?"

"I will go wherever you go."

"You will die if you follow me."

"I know. If you die, then I will just die too."

"Don't you have relatives? Your Mum told you to go find your aunt, didn't she?"

"Never met her before. Don't care. You are more important."

"Laura…"

"I go wherever you go. You saved me. You didn't treat me as X-23, but Laura. Only Mum called me by my name before she died. You are the second. You are important."

I cannot help but let out a mental sigh in my head. I am touched that Laura shows such fierce loyalty towards me, but I really don't want her to die. The Laura now is still a little more beast than man, and I have no doubt she will try and rip anyone's throat out at the first signs of hostility. I don't want the Avengers to somehow mistake her as an enemy and fight her. Laura's abilities may make her a near immortal, but I'm sure that the Avengers have many ways to stop her if they do fight it out.

"Rey?"

"Yeah?"

"You live, I live. You die, I die. I don't want Rey to die. I don't want to live in a world where I'm all alone. So wherever you go, I go."

To think that the greatest kindness I had received in the past 11 years in my second life is from an emotionally stunted 11 year old girl who is also one of the best assassins that had walked this planet. And I only knew her for two weeks in my 11 years here. How sad can my second life get?

Still, I'm glad to have met her, no matter how short our meeting may be.

"Laura?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you. For being here."

She didn't say anything else, but her hug on me tightened.

* * *

She is just a tool. An experiment. A killer. An assassin. She has no name.

She is just X-23.

She does have a mother, a mother that had tried to raise her into a functional human being. She regretted the fact that she didn't realise until the very end that what her mother was doing was to try to help her. It was something she only realised when she finally had enough capacity to think on her own. She's happy that there is someone who is genuinely concerned about her well-being. It makes her heart feel warm in this otherwise cold world.

And she was the one who killed her only parent in cold blood.

She can never forgive Rice for using the "Trigger Scent", the scent that sends her into a blind rage and everything goes black for her. When she finally wakes up, everyone's dead.

Her mother, Sarah Kinney, was on her last breaths when she pulled herself out of her rampage.

The guilt hit her hard, but the last gift her mother gave her before she breathed her last was to give her a name. A name, something that is different from the label of "X-23" that she is so used to.

Her name is Laura. Laura Kinney.

It is the best gift ever given to her. It makes her heart feel warm again. It makes her feel that she is more than just an experiment, a bastardised clone of a father that she had never met.

It makes her feel more human.

Her mother had long since prepared for an escape. It was easy for Laura to locate the duffel bag her mother prepared which contains the essentials needed for the run from members of the Facility. They want their test subject back. They want their investment back.

She will **_not_** go back. For that end, she ran. If they get in her way, then she will kill them.

Kimura was the most persistent. She was the one who trained her how to fight. Taking her down is impossible, because her former handler knew her inside and out.

Running was the only option if Kimura is involved.

It wasn't easy trying to survive with hordes of trained killers tracking your every move and stopping you at every turn, but she came out on top in every single encounter. She carved her path to freedom by spilling the blood of her foes, one body at a time. She nearly succeeded until the last man stood in her way.

Kimura. Again.

They fought. It was the most bloody and brutal fight that she had gotten herself into and she fought with the strength of a berserker. But no matter how hard she tried, she knew that she was outclassed. She was starting to lose hope.

Until Rey dropped down from the sky.

His sudden appearance made them both take a sudden pause. Rey was obviously confused as to where he landed himself in. Kimura didn't have the patience for him to wait and figure it out. She took out a handgun, pointed it at his head, and was about to fire.

Rey panicked.

He swiped his hand at the direction of her head, and it was at that moment Laura saw the most beautiful colour in the universe.

A glow of power was unleashed from Rey's hand, shining in that mesmerising sky blue glow. It looks almost like a living, sentient globule of…_thing_. Whatever that blast of power is. She does not know what it is, but she can see that it erased anything that Rey had sent it to. Anything that blue glow touches will disappear.

Rey had sent his powers in the direction of Kimura's head.

There was no time for her former handler to react. In the next second, Kimura's head disappeared upon coming into contact with that shining blue glow of distorted space. The blue glow vanished and blood spurted out of Kimura's neck now that her head had disappeared, painting everything around them in a beautiful scarlet red.

She wasn't even fazed at that sight. She is an assassin. She had long grown used to seeing blood and dead bodies mangled in the most morbid of ways.

But not Rey.

Rey froze at the sight, as if he did not comprehend what he had just did. Kimura's warm blood showered upon him as his body trembled. Laura recognised that fear.

It is the same fear she had when she had her first kill.

She felt a strange connection to the boy who is of the same age as her. She can tell that like her, he is abnormal. She walked closer to him. He still hasn't registered her presence. She remembered thinking that such behaviour is a fatal flaw to have for an assassin, but then again, she rationalised that this boy definitely isn't an assassin. She sheathed her claws and wrapped her arms around him. Her mother used to hug her whenever she feels distressed and it had worked, maybe it will work for the boy too.

It took a while, but her hug calmed him down. He feels warm. She decides that she likes him because he made her feel warm again.

Somehow, being next to him makes her a little more human, something she struggles to be.

After they got themselves cleaned and Rey had calmed down enough, they introduced themselves. They each knew that the other has special powers due to the incident with Kimura, so they both shared what they can do. They found out that they are both the result of horrid experiments. Experiments that started due to human greed. Her connection to him felt stronger after that, because right here is someone who can understand her pain.

Like her, he had never tasted freedom before. Until now.

He is also a genuinely nice person. He is kind. It is in the little things that he does. That he checks on her every now and then as they travelled by foot, asking her if she is fine when it should be the other way. She has near unlimited stamina, he doesn't. He is always the one giving her a larger portion of the meagre amount of food they collected when he is the hungrier one. He is always the one letting her use the blankets when they slept even when he felt so cold that his teeth are chattering audibly.

He taught her words that she doesn't know about with the book they found on their journey to find a place, somewhere where they can be themselves without persecution. The words written on the book are hard and complicated, but Rey never lost his patience even once as he tried his best to teach her.

"What is the meaning of 'assurance'?" She remembers asking him that question when she first saw the word in the book.

"It's like an oath given by one person to another, that he will do something or that a particular thing will happen. Like a promise. If I give you assurance that you will live, for example, then I am promising you that you will live."

"Promise?"

"A promise." He nodded with his head as they both huddled for warmth in the telephone booth in the dead of the night, hoping no one will kick them out and leave them at the mercy of the cold. "Come on, try forming a complete sentence with the word 'assurance' in it."

She thought of it for a while as she stared at his face. It came naturally to her.

"I want your assurance that we will always be together."

She can tell that he was stunned, but he recovered quickly enough and give her a smile.

"I won't promise you that, because I hate breaking promises and that sounds like too tough a promise to keep. But I can promise you that no matter what, I will try my best to return back to your side. How about that?"

"Promise?"

"I promise. Here, let me teach you how to do a pinky promise." He held her right hand and curled her fingers inwards, leaving only her pinky finger and thumb outwards. "Curl your pinky with mine. Yes, like that. Now, try to touch your thumb with mine to seal the deal. That's it. Now we have done a pinky promise. There's no going back on the promise now."

"So this pinky promise means that we will always be together?"

"I will do my best." Was what he said to her, not promising her that he will always be there because they both know how unrealistic that is. This world is unforgiving. However, he told her that he will try his best to return to her no matter what and honestly, that is the best thing she had heard in her life.

"Then me too."

It is these little actions that made her feel warm on the inside, no matter how cold this world may be. He doesn't judge and treat her based on what she is, but **_who_** she is. She feels that she is finally Laura, not X-23. She wants to feel the same kindness for the rest of her life. She doesn't want to live in a world without warmth again. She wants Rey to be by her side to provide her that warmth and she will be there for him too.

Yet, the source of her warmth is looking for a way to stop himself, and death is a large part of that possibility. He is still wrecked with guilt, and she knows he will seek death if it means preventing his power from going out of control and harming innocents again. Her warmth will be gone if that happens.

She doesn't want to stop him, because she knows how precious freedom is. The freedom to choose whether you want to live or die, how you want to live or die, is something that they had only both earned after they had made their great escape. As reluctant as she is to see him walk down this path, she doesn't want to take that choice away from him. On the other hand, she doesn't want the only source of her warmth in this world to disappear. She wants to be with him. Her mother had told her to look for her aunt, Debbie, but Laura had never met her before. She doesn't know who Debbie is and how she is as a person. For all she knows her aunt may just be another abusive person.

But she knows who Rey is. Rey will always treat her kindly.

She made a choice. She will follow Rey instead. She doesn't want to live in world without warmth, she'd rather die if that was the case. Being by Rey's side means that if he ever loses control of himself, she will die. She is fine by that. She just doesn't want to be alone anymore.

Life has no meaning if there isn't warmth. If her warmth wants to fade out, she will choose to fade out as well. If Rey wants to die, so will she. She will go wherever he goes. He had always said that he is thankful to have met such a wonderful person like her before he dies, but it should be the other way around. She is thankful to meet another kind soul like him. It showed her that there are people in this world other than her mother that genuinely cares for her.

She has no idea who this 'Avenger' group of people are, the group of people that Rey is so afraid of and is very certain that they are hunting him down right now. He is not afraid of facing them, but rather the thought of her facing them. He is afraid for her sake. He is afraid that the Avengers might unknowingly trigger him to cause another 'spatial explosion', whatever that is, and caused him to accidentally kill her if she is nearby. Rey had explained to her that it means that he will uncontrollably create a massive void that leaves nothing but a big, big, hole on the ground. He explains that the trigger to his spatial explosion is a little similar to how she cannot help but fly into a rage whenever she is exposed to the trigger scent. He cannot help but make everything disappear whenever he feels extreme fear, like how she cannot help but go into a berserk rampage whenever she is exposed to the trigger scent. Everything else that got caught in his spatial explosion will simply disappear, including her if she got too close.

She hates triggers. The trigger scent had taken her mother away from her. Now another trigger is going to take the last person on earth that cares for her.

Rey's fear of the trigger and the thought of causing another spatial explosion led him to decide to find an isolated place for himself to prevent his powers from causing needless harm. His reasoning is that if there is no life, then his trigger won't be able to kill anything. People will be safe from him. He wants to be alone to make sure that he is not a danger to anyone else.

In Laura's opinion, the solution is simple. Rey's trigger is largely the fear of death. She understands that it is something that can only be controlled to a certain extent. You cannot help but fear death, it is something wired into you naturally. It is an instinct to ensure your survival, a knee-jerk reaction. In that case, then people should stop trying to kill him. If people stop trying to kill Rey with guns and knifes and leave him alone instead, then he wouldn't feel fear. His trigger will never be able to haunt him again.

The solution is to stop being so violent. It is that simple.

Alas, adults are complicated and stupid creatures. Like the ones prowling outside the shack they are in right now. Did they really think that she wouldn't notice them spying on them for the last ten minutes? Did they really think that she wouldn't notice them creeping closer and closer? Did they really think she cannot sense their bloodlust? Her senses are rarely wrong.

She looked back at Rey, her source of warmth. He had finally gone back to a peaceful sleep without nightmares, sleeping quietly beside her. She stood up silently and carefully, not wanting to wake him up. Rey doesn't seem to understand that sometimes, killing is necessary if you want to survive. He is too kind to kill unless he's pushed to a corner. But that's ok. If Rey doesn't like killing, then she can do it for him. Adding a few more bodies to her kill count won't matter anyway, she had long since stopped counting. The faces in her dreams never bothered her anymore.

He is her warmth, and she doesn't want to let him go. He had showed her kindness and taught her how to be kind after the death of her mother. She will protect him, even if it means to die trying. Her dying probably won't happen, considering how hard it is to kill her. The only one that can easily kill her is Rey.

Her claws crept out of her skin as she sneaked out of the shack through a hole at the bottom of the wall hidden by a large bush outside. The sun is only starting to rise, it isn't very bright yet. It will prevent anyone from spotting her. Her muscles tensed as her senses sharpened. She held back the instinctual growl from forming in her throat, it will only expose her location. Right now, stealth is the only advantage she has over the superior numbers she faces.

It's time to hunt.


	2. Chapter 2- Avengers

She stalked through the clearing, keeping her body low to the ground with the large bushes covering her. She clenched her fists, claws already out. She tiptoed silently, creeping closer to her target, just like how she was taught to do a silent takedown ever since she was seven.

Her target isn't aware of her presence yet, his rifle still pointing in the wrong direction where he thought she will be.

She leapt.

Her left hand covered her target's mouth to silence him while the claws on her right stabbed through his throat. A quick, silent kill.

Next one.

Her next target spotted her before she got too close, but it didn't matter. Even before he could manage to make a noise or even shoot at her, her claws had already embedded itself into his throat. A twist and a pull later, her claws came out free, and her victim's head flopped to a side, only attached to his neck with a small portion of his skin holding the two together.

A loud bang got her ducking her head for cover. She had been spotted. Not good.

She needs to go back to Rey.

She stayed out of sight as much as she could while running back to the shack. A rain of bullets fell upon her. Some got her as she bit the bottom of her lips and pushed on, holding back the grunt of pain. Her healing factor will heal her soon enough, the pain is just temporary.

She throws herself flat onto the ground when a pulse of bluish energy tore through the shack, cleaving it into two horizontal halves in a large crescent. The crescent-shaped energy cut everything in its way into two. Trees felled and bodies were split into halves. The firing stopped.

"Laura! Laura!"

"I'm here!"

She reunited with him and he heaved a visible sigh of relief when he sees that she is safe. They didn't waste any more time, grabbing onto the duffel bag that contains whatever little belongings they have and quickly ran into the nearby forest less than a hundred meters away. The foliage will give them enough cover to hide from their pursuers. Who are their pursuers anyway?

The whistle of a projectile flying got them ducking their heads. When they looked up, they saw a dart embedded onto the tree right next to them. She recognised the dart immediately. It is the same brand of darts that members of the Facility use on her, one that is strong enough to knock out even enhanced individuals like her.

The Facility are after them.

Rey sent another wave of unstable space that cut through the area behind them, hoping that it is enough to stop them or at least delay them. They continue to run, not checking if the attack had put them down.

They don't want to return to be a test subject.

She was taught to be vigilant and alert to her surroundings during her time in the Facility. It was a lesson taught to her when they mould her into a deadly assassin. In her haste to escape, she had forgotten that lesson. She was so focused on checking their backs that she forgot to check upwards.

The sound of air being displaced was heard before she felt herself pushed to a side by Rey. She fell onto the ground and quickly got onto her feet, only to find Rey swaying on the spot, barely managing to stand.

There are tranquilizer darts protruding from his back. He had tried to save her only to get shot in return.

"Run…" He croaked as he visibly tried to fight off the sleep overtaking him. "Run, Laura, **RUN**!"

His body got enveloped by a bluish sphere of energy and Laura knew that there isn't anything that she can do to help him right now. Rey had voluntarily activated his powers in a last-ditch attempt to help her escape. She cursed her own uselessness when she was forced to run away from him. A few masked men with guns arrived onto the scene and watched the blue glow in curiosity. Rey had drawn all the attention to himself to get her to escape.

She will return to his side once his powers stopped rampaging; she swears on that. He'd better be alive after this, because she will find a way to die if he somehow didn't survive the uncontrollable outburst of his own power.

They promised that they will always be together.

She heard something shot at her and she instinctively used her claws to hit it away, only to find a thick wire coiled around her claws. The next moment, she is screaming in pain as the familiar sensation of getting zapped by electricity made itself known again.

She fought, she struggled through the convulsions as the deadly voltage coursed through her body. A voltage so strong that it would have killed any other man if they were in her place. She stood up once again and cut off the wire with the claws on her other hand. She panted for breath and quickly dodged when another wire shot out at her from within the foliage.

There was another shout from where Rey was and she saw that several of these men had vanished upon coming into contact with Rey's power. One of them howled in pain and clutched onto a bloody stump. The stump is the remains of his left arm and the man tried to run away from Rey's power, finally recognising the threat it poses. He wasn't fast enough. Rey's power caught up to him and erased him from existence in barely a second.

Then it stopped.

The blue glow suddenly vanish and Rey's hunched form can be seen in the middle of an obliterated clearing, which had now transformed into a barren wasteland with a crater on the ground. Armed men ran out and pointed their guns at him, but it was for naught as Rey slumped onto the ground, unconscious thanks to the effects of the dart and from using the last of his strength to rein in his power. The men immediately took this opportunity to put him in cuffs and take him away.

"REY!"

She threw all caution to the wind as she dashed back to Rey, trying to get back to his side. She won't allow anyone to take her warmth away from her.

She will get him back no matter the cost.

The firing of assault rifles was followed by her body sporting many bloody holes. She faltered as the pain became too much and fell onto the ground. She supported her body weight with her elbows as the shells of the metal bullets start to eject from her body one by one and dropped to the ground, making a clinking noise while her healing factor kicks in to save her life.

"Take her in!"

She can see more guns levelled at her. The guns that she recognises that fire the tranquilizer darts she hates so much. That wasn't what she's focused on.

She can see Rey being loaded onto a helicopter that had landed in the clearing. They are going to take him away.

She released a feral roar of rage and sprinted in his direction. The darts were fired and she can feel some of them finding their mark on her body. She didn't care. She pushed on. All she cares about now is to make sure the Facility don't get their hands on Rey.

He is all she has left.

"She's reaching the chopper! Get it off the ground first! That's our only way out of here! Don't let her destroy the chopper! Someone stop her!"

"Take off! Take off! Now!"

The chopper started to lift off from the ground and she increased her strides, pushing past her induced drowsiness brought about by the darts and ignoring the bullets shot at her. She is ridden with holes, but she doesn't care. Those will heal. She can take the punishment the Facility inflicts on her but Rey can't. He doesn't have a healing factor.

She's still too late. The chopper took off into the air and out of her reach.

"Shit! Someone else is here! Retreat! Get the chopper away!"

"What about X-23?!"

"Leave her be for now! There are people you don't want to mess with coming for us!"

"Who?!"

"The Avengers! Run!"

The effects of the tranquilizer darts are too much. She collapsed onto the ground, fighting to stay awake as the soldiers started to make their getaway.

"She's down!"

"Couldn't she choose a better timing? You two, get her! Quick!"

She can see from her blurred vision two men running to drag her away with them. She tried to resist, only to find her limbs heavier than lead. She cannot move a single muscle.

Just when she thought the men's foul hands will whisk her away back to the Facility, she heard the men getting knocked back by a metallic '_CONK'_. She struggled to tilt her head more and found a metal disc flying backwards and returning to the arm of a large man dressed in a funny-looking blue suit.

"This is Steve! We got hostiles! Where are you guys?!"

The man shouted to no one in particular and used his body to block her from harm as he raised the metal disc in front of them as a shield. She can hear the metallic sounds of bullets bouncing away from the shield.

She heard an arrow whizzed past them and landed in the middle of the group of armed men who were slowly making their escape. An explosion shook the ground slightly. She doesn't need to see to guess what was going on.

"Rey…" She slurred out as she mustered the willpower to move her hand and tugged on the leg of the man dressed in blue to get his attention. He had saved her, he must be at least a decent enough man. He is her only hope left. "Save Rey… They got Rey…"

The man turned around to look at her while still holding on to his shield.

"Rey? Who's that? Is that your friend? Your friend was captured?"

She could barely manage a nod. She repeats her words in a mantra, a chant, praying that this man in blue can save her only source of warmth.

"Hey, look at me! Don't sleep, can you hear me? Stay awake!"

"Save Rey…"

And she blacks out.

* * *

"She's not normal."

"Tell me something we don't know."

"Like who those people were. Why were they shooting at a kid?"

"Look, Capsicle, I don't have all the answers." Tony rubbed his eyes tiredly with a hand and glanced at the unconscious girl that they retrieved less than an hour ago. They detected the same weird space distortion that wiped out an entire village in Africa back in their country and flew back immediately. That was three days ago. They tried to narrow down their search and decided to split up to cover more ground. He was searching for clues in the opposite direction when Steve called for reinforcements. Tony had flew back immediately only to find that the fight was over.

A massacre that deals with ripping the fabrics of space apart is something that the world governments decided to let the Avengers handle, considering their success in repelling a recent alien invasion on New York. Tony and Bruce were in charge of building a machine that can detect a tear in space. They got no readings for close to two weeks until their machine picked up an extremely faint one in America three days ago and the entire team flew back immediately, fearing that another alien invasion might happen in America so soon after they just defended Earth against Loki's army.

They got themselves an abnormal girl instead. An abnormal girl with retractable claws and absurd healing factor.

"If I have to make an educated guess, this Rey may be the one that caused the massacre, or at least have a clue on what happened." Bruce added his two cents from another corner of the room as the doctor read the girl's vitals from the machines the girl is being hooked on. "This girl is an enhanced individual. Her healing factor is extraordinary."

"Did you see her bloodied shirt? It was littered with holes. _Bullet holes_, guys, and yet there is not a scratch on her." Clint added from his spot where he is leaning against a wall.

"More importantly, do we have any clues on where these people went to or who they are?" Natasha reminded them of the larger picture at hand. "Did our satellites pick up anything?"

"JARVIS is working on it. Might take a while. The main trouble is narrowing the scope down, which is harder than it sounds since we have no clue at all on who the attackers are."

Just at that moment, the girl stirred before shooting upright on her bed violently.

"Rey… Rey… Rey!"

"Hey, calm down." Steve is immediately by the girl's side and tried to placate her. It had the opposite effect as she thrashed about and to their surprise, tore off the restraints on her with pure strength alone.

"Restrain her! She's not supposed to be moving around!"

Steve is on it immediately as he tried to restrain the girl and calm her down, but nearly got his face clawed off when silver blades protruding from the girl's fists swiped at him in fury.

"Where's Rey?!"

"Hey, calm down, we cannot help find your Rey if you go all nuts like that!"

"Not helping, Tony!" Steve yelled back as he engaged the girl in hand-to-hand combat, taking great care to avoid the claws. She is obviously trained, he can tell that much. Not only that, it is plain as day that this girl is trained to be an assassin with the way she moved. Just like Natasha.

"Why the hell does she even have claws?" Clint shouted out as he joined in to help him restrain the girl, only for the girl to duck down and rolled out of harm's way before placing her back to the wall. Her breathings are loud and her eyes dilated. Her hands are held out in front of her defensively, her posture in a fight-or-flight position and ready to bolt or fight in a moment's notice.

"Hey, you are alright, we are not here to hurt you. We patched you up. We are the good guys, see?" Natasha immediately took over in being the voice of the team. She held her hands up, showing her empty palms and slowly crouched down a little to match the girl's height, trying to play herself off as a non-threat. "We can help you, but you need to first tell us what happened. Can you first put away your… claws? Then we can start talking and we can see how we can help you. Alright?"

"Where's Rey?" She asked immediately, not fully trusting them. She recognised the big blonde guy to be the man in blue that had saved her. She recognised his scent and the way he had fought. That doesn't mean that she will trust them wholeheartedly straightaway.

"Who is Rey?" Natasha pressed on gently.

"Rey is Rey."

Tony let out a snort and Natasha did a silent gesture for her team of idiotic men to keep quiet. God forbid if they ruin this for her. Talking to the distressed girl is hard enough as it is.

"What about the people with guns that were after you? Do you know them?"

"They… They are from the Facility. I recognised the darts. It's the same ones they always used on me."

"Facility?" Natasha inquired, trying to prompt the girl to share more.

"It's where I escaped from. They want me back, I refused. I ran, then I bumped into Rey. He saved me from Kimura, and we were always together until they found us again."

"Do you know where they are located?" Tony cut in, which irritate Natasha. It's on him if he somehow triggers the girl into a rampage again.

"I don't know. All I know is to head for San Francisco. Mum said that I have an aunt there. Then I met Rey, and I decided that I rather stick with him than to find someone I never met before."

"How long has it been since you escaped from the Facility? At least give me an estimate so that I can help track down this Rey guy." Tony inquired further, trying to glean more details from the vague descriptions the girl is giving. Anything is better than nothing at this point. She is the only lead left in regard to the task that they are given.

If their suspicions are true and the boy is somehow related to the destructive space distortion that wiped out an entire village, then it is overall bad news for them, considering that he is now undoubtedly in the wrong hands.

They need to prevent another possible massacre from happening.

"More than two weeks. I was with Rey for two weeks, and before that I was travelling for about…"

"An estimate, hun, just give it your best shot. Tell me more about this Facility. Describe it to me, then I can start searching for it."

"A-About a month. I was alone for about a month until I met Rey. I know it is close to San Francisco because Mum had brought me there once within hours from the Facility. There are mountains around it, many of them."

"Right. JARVIS, narrow our search to mountainous regions near San Francisco while keeping an eye out for any helicopter sightings or distortion in space." Tony said out loud for the Artificial Intelligence in the building to hear.

_"Will do, boss."_

"Are you guys going to save Rey?" The girl asked with obvious hope in her voice.

"Yes, we are." Natasha replied gently, getting closer to the girl while giving her some needed personal space. "My name is Natasha, or you can just call me Nat. What's your name?"

The girl hesitates, but Natasha gave her an encouraging nod to get her to continue.

"We are not here to hurt you, I promise."

"P-Promise?" The girl asked shakily.

"Promise." Natasha said determinedly. There are still many questions she has about the girl, most of all the retractable claws on her hand, but that can wait for now.

The girl held out her right hand.

"Pinky promise."

Surprised by the sudden childish gesture, Natasha was stumped for a second, but managed to recover her bearings quick enough and interlocked her pinky with the girl before sealing it with their thumbs.

"Laura. Mum named me Laura. I am Laura Kinney."

"Wait, do you know your mother's name?" Tony suddenly spoke at the mention of Laura having a mother. "It might help me with searching for the Rey guy, just saying."

"Sarah. My mother is Sarah Kinney."

"JARVIS? Include our search to find out all that we can about this Sarah Kinney. It might lead us to the base of this 'Facility'."

_"On it, boss."_

"There's no need to be so tense and afraid of us, we won't bite." Steve said good naturedly and passed to Laura a glass of water. She gulped it down instantly. He knelt down to her height.

"Hello, Laura. My name is Steve Rogers. Can I be your friend?"

"Only if you save Rey."

"We will." Steve assured the mysterious girl. "Saving people is our job after all."

* * *

It is probably a bad idea to let a girl that young tag along with them.

Even for an A.I. as sophisticated as JARVIS, it took JARVIS two hours to properly narrow the scope of the search based on the information Laura provided and another hour to finally locate it. Laura's description was still too vague despite the information she provided, but at least they found the location of their target in the end.

Natasha managed to get Laura to open up enough to tell them a little of her past and also about Rey. From Laura's description, they are certain that this Rey was the one who caused the massive distortion in space that wiped out that village in Africa. Like her, Rey has some sort of superpower.

What took them by surprise was that Laura told them that Rey wanted to find a way to stop himself, or to find a way to die without triggering the outburst of his power if his power cannot be controlled. It is a surprisingly mature yet morbid thing to expect from a child.

Laura had insisted to tag along, saying that she can help because she knew the base inside out. She had also proved to be a capable fighter with the short bout she had with Steve earlier. Her healing factor and the retractable claws she has made it hard for them to argue otherwise. Furthermore, none of them want to deal with a feral enhanced human on top of the large amount of shit that they currently have to deal with, so they reluctantly agreed.

Bruce suggested that Laura may be a mutant, a race of people with unnatural superpowers. They decided to look into that later. For now, getting to the bottom of the massacre in Africa and finding out what this 'Facility' really is takes precedence.

With Laura's help in pointing out the weak points she knows about the base of the Facility that she had exploited to make her escape, the Avengers infiltrated the building way easier than expected. Tony had JARVIS hack into the surveillance, buying them some much needed time while they travelled through the building with ease. Laura is a very good guide.

"The experiment room is right below." She told them in a whisper just as Steve and Natasha silently took down a couple of guards. "It is a straight and long corridor. There will be guards and we will be spotted immediately."

"Don't worry, we got it handled. Stand behind us."

Hiding behind a wall and peeking a head through, Steve spotted two guards standing near the entrance of what seemed to be a lab.

"Here goes nothing."

He threw his shield downwards and watched it as it bounced across the walls of the corridor, startling and confusing the guards. The shield swiftly knocked the surprised guards out before they can do anything. The shield eventually returned back to Steve's side.

"Let's go."

After Natasha successfully hacked the lab's security, they stormed through the doors of the lab. Steve and Natasha made short work of whoever stood in their way. Laura let out her anger as she tore through whoever was unlucky enough to face her. Steve doesn't like it when a child so young snarls angrily while being bathed in blood, but there are other things to worry about now.

There are too many things that he doesn't know and he doesn't like it.

"**Where's Rey**?!"

"I-I don't know!" A scientist in white lab coat stuttered. Laura lost her patience and tore his throat out with her claws before leaping for her next victim. Steve wanted to stop her, but he himself is currently being overwhelmed by the number of armed assailants he is facing. It is the same for Natasha as well. Their hands are too full to be keeping a good eye on Laura.

They heard a roar that sounded more animal than man. The two Avengers quickly put down their foes and ran into the room where they heard the roar coming from, just in time to see an angry Laura beheading a scientist about to use a syringe and inject something into an unconscious boy lying on an operating table.

When Laura ran up to the unconscious boy chained down onto the operating table, Steve knew they had found Rey. A scrawny young boy with blonde hair and pale skin that reminded him a little of what he used to look like when he was young. The boy's face looks peaceful as he lay on the table.

"Rey, Rey!"

"He's alive, just asleep." Natasha calmed the girl down before her agitation made her into a berserker and lost her mind. "Let's get Rey out of here, ok?"

Laura nodded as Natasha wheeled the operating table with Rey on it out of the lab. Steve led the way at the front with his shield raised, acting as their vanguard.

They can hear the sounds of destruction around them as Tony, Bruce, and Clint goes about doing their part of this mission in raiding and destroying the facility. By the time they are out of here, this facility will be no more. A pity Thor wouldn't be able to join since he is back in Asgard. He would have enjoyed bringing this cruel place down with flashes of lightning.

They are bringing the children home today. Saving people is what they had pledged to do and the Avengers always keep their promise.

They are the Avengers, and avenging the innocents is what they do best.


	3. Chapter 3- Mutants

"They are mutants." Bruce said with certainty and waved the printed report in his hand. He glanced to where the children are, separated from them in an isolated room with a thick wall of reinforced glass the only barrier between them and the children. Rey had regained consciousness two days ago and was surprisingly cooperative. He answered any questions posed to him. Throughout the entire time, Laura never left his side and Rey never failed to try his best to take care of the emotionally stunted girl, bringing out the human side in her and keeping her inner beast in check. It touched the hearts of the Avengers, because such loyalty is rare now.

The only problem is that Rey is the source of the unstable space that made the massacre in Africa possible. His powers are too uncontrollable and no one in the Avengers can help him learn how to better control it.

Both the Facility and Rey's previous affiliation, Siren Song, were perfect scapegoats to pin the blame of the Africa massacre on and redirect the heat of the blame off Rey. The UN accepted the explanation that the Avengers gave, and 'pardoned' Rey of his crimes since he wasn't in control of his actions and was not a willing participant. The fact that he is a child helped too. To the public, the explanation given was that Siren Song and the Facility were the ones responsible for the massacre through the use of some high-tech weaponry, but is now destroyed thanks to the Avengers. Behind closed doors, however, Rey is now in the custody of the Avengers and it is now their responsibility that he doesn't blow up again.

The unsaid order of '_kill Rey if he grows to be an uncontrollable threat'_ given to them by the UN hangs in the air as well. Rey's survival hinges on whether he will be able to control his own powers.

Rey is just another unfortunate victim that had been dealt with a crappy hand. He is an unfortunate child blessed with too much power and was weaponised by adults who could care less about who he is as a person. The same goes for Laura. The information they acquired from the destroyed Facility base told them all they need to know about Laura.

A clone of a well-known mutant people had thought to be a myth. The Wolverine.

"So, what now?" Tony ran a tired hand through his face, the eyebags beneath his eyes were obvious. The two children are eyeing them curiously, although made no moves to get closer to them or interact with them due to a thick glass blocking their way. It is the type of glass that even the Hulk will have difficulty breaking, and even then they have no idea if it can restrain Laura's absurdly sharp claws. It definitely cannot hold Rey in if he ever decides to use his power to escape. The only thing the glass is definitely doing right now is to prevent the children from overhearing their conversation.

"Only mutants can teach another mutant how to control their powers. None of us here are mutants." Natasha said as she gave the children a brief smile when Laura's gaze met hers.

"And **_where_** are we going to find them? Mutants are not well-received anywhere on earth. They had always been publicly persecuted. We can't possibly broadcast a message in Times Square and say '_Hey we have mutant children here and we have no idea how to teach them how to control their powers. Can one of you mutants step up and help us? Thanks a bunch! Love, Avengers_.' Right?" Clint threw up his hands in exasperation. Despite the tone he is using, everyone knows that he is fiercely protective of the two children that they had found. Clint also has a son and daughter that are about the same age as them. He had also admitted that he cannot imagine what he will feel if his own children were to be subjected to the same treatment Rey and Laura had been through.

The Avengers remain silent after that. None of them have any clue on how they can help the two children that were suddenly placed under their watch. They are not complaining, but they would really appreciate any help that they can get right now. They had not come across a mutant-related incident before and definitely have zero experience in trying to raise mutant children.

"What's wrong?" Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., made his appearance in the Avengers Tower as he walked into the room.

"Tell us that you know how to deal with mutant children." Tony pointed a finger at the two children who are now reading a book that Steve had given them. From the looks of it, it seems like Rey is teaching Laura how to read.

"Do I look like I know a thing about raising mutant children, Stark?" Nick shot back, which got everyone to deflate until he spoke his next sentence.

"But I know other people that do."

* * *

"This is the place?"

"This is it." Nick said as he got off the car together with Steve, Clint, and Natasha. The Black Widow gently ushered Rey and Laura out and held their hands, not wanting them to run off in their curiosity or get lost. Rey is an obedient enough child, but Laura's curiosity in everything new to her may prove to be a problem if they do not keep a close eye on her.

"Welcome to the Xavier's School of Gifted Youngsters."

The sudden appearance of a wheelchair-bound bald man got the Avengers immediately on alert. The way the disabled man had successfully sneaked past their senses undetected spoke volumes on how dangerous he can be. Even Laura had her claws out. Only Nick seemed unaffected by this.

"Xavier, it has been a long time."

"Nick. I'm glad to see that you have been doing well." The man named Xavier then turned to the Avengers. "Pleased to meet your acquaintance, Avengers, and you two as well." The last part was directed to the two children. Rey looked uncomfortable to be in Xavier's presence for reasons unknown.

Xavier turned himself around and wheeled himself into the big mansion. The Avenger took this as their cue to follow.

"I'm not sure how much you know about us but do let me explain." Xavier proceed to do a brief introduction of the school he founded as he guided them through the courtyard. It looks like a normal school with youngsters playing around and doing stuffs that teenagers their age should be doing, except that most of them obviously possess supernatural powers. Burning objects with a snap of their fingers, levitating in the air, turning invisible with just a thought, among many others.

"We mutants have been heavily persecuted ever since our kind was discovered. It is the same everywhere in every country. Still, I held on to my belief. I believe that there will be a day where mutants and humans can live and work together. I believe that we can grow together. I have plans for this place. I want to turn it into not just a real campus, but a university. Not just for mutants either, but for humans too." Xavier said as he glanced back at Laura and Rey and gave them a reassuring smile. "Laura and Rey will most certainly be welcomed here."

"I'm afraid that is not going to happen." Nick cut in in his deep voice. "After what Rey had done, the Avengers are now tasked with watching him. He is our responsibility now. We cannot just deposit him onto somebody else."

"I'm sure you can find a way for Rey to be legally entrusted into our care." The professor insisted. "We are the people best suited to teach him how to control his powers so that he will not harm himself or those around him."

"Look, Xavier. I know you, but I don't know you well enough to trust you wholeheartedly." Nick got straight to the point. "You know the government doesn't trust you mutants and nothing we do right now can change that. There's no way I can just give you custody of the children because I am not allowed to. In fact, the only reason why the government is not calling their troops to wipe out your mansion is because there is no good reason to. But if I transfer Rey into your care, a person which the UN consider to possibly grow to be a walking tactical nuke? The entire world will be alarmed. I'm afraid I cannot let you take care of Rey. That will be the job for the Avengers."

"And yet, here you are, asking for my help. Unless the email you sent me yesterday was a joke."

"It was not a joke." Nick admitted. "We realised that only a mutant can help a mutant, so here we are."

"I lament the fact that humans are still unable to trust mutants, but I understand your plight." Xavier sighed and opened the door to a huge room with his power, not needing to even lift a finger. "We will never turn away a mutant in need. We will find suitable teachers for Rey and Laura to teach them how to properly harness their power. Still, the doors to my school will always be open to the two of them, should they need it."

Xavier reached out for a printed report on his desk and handed it to Nick.

"Still, I need to know more about this, considering it affects one of my friends."

Nick read the top of the report. It is the compiled information regarding Laura that they had retrieved from the Facility. Nick had sent it to Xavier together along with the email that requested for today's meeting.

"Whatever is written on this report is what we know about the girl."

Xavier looked a little stunned by the confirmation, but merely shook his head and waved a hand at Laura.

"Laura, do you mind coming over?"

Laura hesitated, but upon seeing Rey giving her an encouraging nod, walked over to the bald professor slowly and cautiously.

Xavier gently took one of her hand and speak to her in a gentle tone.

"Laura, I know this might unsettle you, but you have a father. Do you want to meet him?"

"I don't have one."

"You do have one." Xavier affirmed once again. "He just never knew about you until now. Do you want to meet him?"

She remained silent for a few seconds. Her fingers nervously playing with the sleeves of her shirt did not go amiss by the adults in the room. After a pregnant pause, she finally spoke.

"Okay."

* * *

This has got to be some kind of sick cosmic joke.

A daughter. He has a _daughter_. Sure, it is not one that he directly fathered, but she was born out of a piece of him. For all purposes, she is his daughter. He had thought that the letter he received a few weeks ago from one Sarah Kinney was a joke or a prank. He had dismissed it and forgotten all about it. He should have known better.

The email the professor received from Nick Fury, a well-known agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., cemented the fact that this was not in fact a joke. How can someone like him, who had known nothing but violence and lost more memories than he remembered, raise a child?

He has a child. He is a _father_.

And he has no fucking clue on what to do.

He is standing behind a closed door, listening in to the conversation between the professor and the Avengers in the adjacent room. He heard the professor calling Laura over to him, explaining to her that she has a father. A part of his mind was praying that she wouldn't want to see him. He doesn't want to face her because he doesn't know how to face her.

But she agreed to meet him.

He knew this was the signal for him to make his appearance. Should Laura said no, he would have turned and left without a second thought. He doesn't want to unsettle his own child with his presence. He is a feral beast trapped in human skin, he is not worthy to be a father. He doesn't even fully remember who he truly is.

But she still decided to meet him anyway.

He swallowed audibly and pushed open the door. The door to the room had never felt heavier. The door parted to let him through, and he saw his daughter for the first time.

Her skin is slightly darker than his. They have the same black hair, but hers is smooth, unlike his. Her green eyes stood out against his blue ones. Even then, there is no mistaking the way she carries herself as if she is part beast. It was how he carried himself until he learnt to be more human.

"You smell… like me."

Laura's sudden interruption got everyone's head turning to her once more as the miniature female Wolverine sniffed the air in Logan's direction. She walked a few cautious steps forward, assessing him carefully.

"I… am your father, Laura." Logan said slowly, not knowing what else to do. _What **else** can he do_? The last thing they need is to freak his mini-me out and cause her to go on a blind rampage.

"I don't have one."

"You are created from a piece of me." Logan tried his best to explain to the little girl as he crouched down to her level. "That makes me your father."

"Then why weren't you there? Where were you when I needed you? Where were you when mother died?"

The three questions hit Logan like a sucker punch to his gut, even if he had very good reasons why he didn't know about her existence until last night.

"I'm sorry." That was the only thing he could say. "But… we are alike." He slowly unsheathed his own claws and held them out for her to inspect, which she did curiously. She even held out her own claws to compare hers with his. He noted that she has two on each hand while he has three. "If you like, I can teach you how to properly use your powers."

She looked back up to him. There's a little more light in her eyes now.

"You can do that?"

"I can, if you give me a chance to do so." He nodded as a smile work its way up to his face, a small feeling of warmth slowly spreading out from his chest. He realised that this feeling is a form of happiness, one that he had forgotten together with many of the memories long since buried. Is this what it means to be a father? "Can you give me a chance to be your father, Laura?"

He can see her hesitation. She turned back to look at Rey, who gives her his own nod of approval. She then turned back to him once more.

"If Rey says you are ok, then you are probably ok. But I'm not staying without him. I only stay if he stays."

"Sure." Logan slowly raised his hand towards her face. She flinched slightly, almost on instinct, and now it is his turn to hesitate. However, when he began to move his hand again towards her face to touch it, she did not make another attempt to evade and instead accepted his touch.

He smiled as he caresses his daughter's smooth face with his big, rough hand. He had forgotten many things, but he is sure that he does not want to forget this moment.

He has a daughter. He is now a father.

He feels happy.

He placed his big hand on the top of her head and ruffled her hair, and she gave him her blatant disapproval with a scowl.

"Hey! Don't touch my hair!"

Logan merely let out a hearty laugh, one that he cannot remember when he had last done so. For once in a long while, he actually feels genuinely happy and at peace.

"Glad to see you laughing again, Logan." Xavier congratulated him sincerely. "I am happy for the both of you."

"Logan? It's really you?" Everyone in the room turned to see a large man with blonde hair looking at him with a bewildered expression on his face.

"Yes? Do I know you?"

"I-It's me, Steve. We fought together in Madripoor, remember? World War II. You saved me from a grenade. It's you, right? Or do you have a grandfather also named Logan?"

"I'm afraid Logan had lost most of his memories even before I met him." Xavier said apologetically. "All we know is that he had been wandering around for a long time. He doesn't really know who he truly is. However, if you really do know him and who he is before, it will be a great help for him to help reclaim his lost memories."

"Y-Yeah." Logan said lamely, a little stunned at this bizarre turn in events. He had fought in World War II? Alongside Captain America no less? "I would love that."

"As much as I hate to interrupt this touching reunion between old comrades." Nick cut in, much to the obvious distaste of Steve. "We need to discuss about the arrangements we have for the children, especially Rey."

"Very well." Xavier conceded before turning to Logan. "Logan, do you mind showing Laura and Rey around the school? I don't think the children would like to stay around to hear boring stuffs that adults talk about."

Logan doesn't need to be told twice. He held his daughter's hand, a little giddy at the fact that he is now a father and has a daughter that looks up to him. He gestured for the boy to come with him, who had a look of relief on his face to be able to get out of the room.

"I will go too. I think it would help if the children have a familiar face around them."

Steve's flimsy excuse to spend more time with someone he suspects was his ex-comrade wasn't questioned as he tagged along, leaving the leader of the X-Men to hash out the arrangements to be made with Nick and Natasha regarding Rey and Laura.

No one is in the mood to be interrupting reunions today.


	4. Chapter 4- Adjustment

"We have guests?"

"Last I heard from Nat, they should be on their way here." Tony said as he sipped on his coffee with Clint reading the daily news on the couch to his left. "Apparently, Mr Eyepatch found some mutants to help them better control their powers and he is bringing them back here for whatever reasons. I think Nat said that the mutants want to see the condition of the place where the children will be staying at. Like, come on, this is the _Avengers Tower_. Who owns the tower? _Me_. Who am I? _The great Tony Stark._ Did they seriously think that I would mistreat them in here?"

Clint simply rolled his eyes and continue to read his newspaper.

"Do you know what the mutants can do?" Bruce asked as he fiddled with a device in his attempt to find a possible way to control the green menace within him. An empty whirr resounded across the lounge on the 95th floor of the Avengers Tower signified that the device had failed to start up again.

"Hell if I know." Tony shrugged as Bruce began to dismantle the device again. "Maybe they have those wonky mind-reading telepaths you see in movies, or maybe another claw girl, or maybe they can open a portal like what Loki did to send in the Chitauri, or-_WHOA_!"

The sudden appearance of a purple portal in the middle of the room had them all scrambling backwards for cover. Clint had immediately grabbed a fruit knife that was lying on the table in front of him while Bruce simply hid himself behind the couch. An armoured glove came flying from somewhere and fitted themselves on Tony's outstretched hand with his palm pointing at the unknown disturbance.

"Aw man, what a nice place! Should I be an Avenger too? Or- _whoa whoa whoa_!" The three avengers all stood with their weapons pointing at a blue-skinned man with a tail that just walked through the portal, who had his hands raised up upon spotting the weapons pointing at him. "_Don't shoot! **Don't shoot!**_ We come in peace!"

"Who are you guys?"

"Nick let us in." A bald man in a wheelchair spoke calmly as he wheeled himself in. "We simply took a shortcut with Clarice's powers."

"Congrats, Tony, you nailed it." Clint whispered to Tony who is standing beside him, although the archer never took his eyes off the new arrivals. "There is really someone who can open portals."

"And now we need another claw girl and a mind-reader to complete it." Tony whispered back, his own eyes also not peeling away from the unannounced visitors, armoured hand still outstretched and pointing to these unknown arrivals.

There is a sound of metal unsheathing itself as the large bearded man raised a fist in front of him, claws brandished.

"I will be damned." Clint said in disbelief. "Not exactly claw girl, but…Tony, are you sure you aren't a prophet?"

"Uh, no, but it does sound like a good switch in career. Now, if there really is a-"

_'wonky mind-reading telepath I will switch from being Iron Man and call myself the Iron Prophet starting from tomorrow.'_

"Tony. Tell me you said that." Bruce said as he tightened his grip on an umbrella, the only thing he found nearby that can probably be used as a weapon even if he doesn't know how an umbrella will prove to be useful against people with superpowers. He doesn't want to go big and green in the Tower unless it's really needed.

But, _umbrella_. Yeah, definitely not the best weapon of choice.

"No, I heard it in my head too." Tony replied, although the anxiety and slight tinge of fear is clear in his voice. What can they do against unknown people with superpowers that breached the Avengers Tower without a sweat? "That was a severe violation of my privacy. On a side note, I think I will be having a career switch soon."

"It's not something I do often." The man in the wheelchair spoke in a calm tone. "But seeing weapons pointing at us necessitates that I have to ascertain your intentions for our own safety. I apologise for any discomfort caused. Rest assured that I did not read any further than that, Iron Prophet."

"Iron _Prophet_, really?" Rey asked in dry humour from where he is beside claw guy.

"Why not?" Tony looked at the young boy, who simply raised an eyebrow in return. Wait, _why is Rey with them? When did he arrive?_

"Weapons down, Avengers. I invited them in." Nick finally made his appearance as he strode into the room through the portal. "And Xavier, please use the lift the next time or at least give a warning. Don't go around scaring my Avengers."

"I apologise." The man in the wheelchair chuckled although it is obvious that he doesn't feel apologetic about that little surprise he just sprang. The three Avengers slowly lowered their weapons just as Steve and Natasha walked in through the portals as well.

"Avengers, meet Professor Charles Xavier, also known as Professor X. These are his fellow mutants, the X-Men." Nick spoke in that impassive voice of his as he introduced the guests to them. "X-Men, meet my Avengers."

The two groups stared at each other, not really knowing how to start a conversation given how awkward and tense things were just now.

Correction, the blue guy with a tail is _extremely enthusiastic_ at seeing them.

"Hey, is it true that you turn all big and green whenever you are angry?"

"Kurt! Not the time to be asking questions!"

"B-But Clarice! I-It's _the_ **_HULK_**! I have to know!"

* * *

_A big flash of blue. A spherical dome of blue around me growing larger and larger as it expands outwards, devouring everything it touches. I cannot control it._

_People screaming. A stampede broke out. They are trying to get away from me after seeing how the flash of blue vanished everything it touches._

_Many ran but they won't be fast enough. Some begged. Some cursed. Some tried to fight back and failed. Some pleaded. Some prayed._

_None of it worked. If God is there, then he isn't free to answer their prayers today. God isn't helping them by helping me stop my powers._

_I tried to control it, redirect it, anything that could possibly help my power from committing senseless slaughter I gave it a go. _

_None of it worked._

_I can only scream and watch on as everything vanished when my power exploded. They had no time to run._

_A man was running for his life, too close to the epicentre, me. The wall of the blue dome is faster, however. His legs just cannot keep up. He fell, tripped over a protruding rock. I watch as the blue wall of unstable space first touches his foot, vanishing it. He screamed. The wall didn't stop, it continues its advances upwards his legs, reaches his waist, then his torso, and finally his head in what seem like slow motion to me. It slowly travelled as a look of horror and pain was etched on his face, the image seared into my mind as I watch what my powers did. It was the expression he had as the blue wall kept advancing and slowly vanished his body from toe to top. Like an eraser erasing a pencil sketching. Wherever the eraser goes, the pencil markings disappear. I'm the eraser, they are the pencil markings. It will be a full cleansing._

_The land I'm on is the canvas. A painting of the once beautiful village that I am about to erase away to restore it into its original blank state._

_A child no older than five cried for his parents as he stood and watched the wall ate him whole. His crying never stopped until he died. A family of four huddled together and said their prayers before disappearing by ending their prayers with screams. Men tried to use weaponry to try and destroy the blue wall of unstable space only to fail spectacularly._

_None survived._

_I remember the face of the man who fell. I remember the face of the child crying for his parents. I remember the family of four praying to their God and the parents telling their children that it's going to be okay, that everything is going to be alright. I remember the smallest daughter in the family giving her parents a look of disbelief before my powers killed them all._

_Nothing is left but a huge crater on the ground of my new artwork. A barren wasteland. That was all I saw until an unstable portal appeared beneath me and I dropped into another location that my powers had randomly sent me to._

_I killed them. It's my fault. It's my fault for living. My presence had caused them to die. I wasn't supposed to be here. Everything has a price. The price I paid for living a second life was paid by the innocents with their lives._

_I wasn't supposed to be here. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be born._

_I should have died. I should have remained dead._

_I need to die._

_I need to be able to die without killing anyone in the process. I need to find an uninhabited area devoid of all humans and if possible, any animals as well. _

_I need to die._

_I want to die._

_Let me die._

_Let me die._

_Letmedieletmedieletmedie**letmedieletmedieletmedieLETMEDIELETMEDIELETMEDIEJUSTLETMEDIE**_

"REY!"

I awoke with a jump, my breathing ragged and audible pants of breath resounding in the room we are sleeping in. I raised a hand to wipe the cold sweat accumulating on my forehead and sat up, noticing that my shirt is also now drenched in sweat.

Another nightmare. First night in the Avengers Tower after being offered a proper home here and nightmares are still around to haunt me.

They never go away and honestly, a part of me don't want them to. They are my punishment, my sins to bear. Taking a human life isn't easy. It isn't supposed to be and I want to continue feeling this way. I don't want to lose my humanity. Fearing the nightmares proved to me that some part of me is still human, that I can be salvaged.

I dread the day when I no longer fear the nightmares because that will be the day I cease being a human. That will be the day I truly become a monster, a living weapon that I am created to be.

"You are screaming in your sleep again."

"I know." I groaned out and wiped a hand across my face. Laura looked as if she wants to say something but opted to remain silent. I have no idea how she isn't annoyed by me waking her up every single night ever since I met her.

"I'm going to get something from the kitchen." I told her after I calmed down a little. "You coming?"

She hopped out of bed and followed me as we both navigated through the dark corridors. The lights turned on all of a sudden, lighting the way to the kitchen.

"Thanks, JARVIS." I muttered, because why else will the light turn on?

_"You are most welcome."_

Guess I was right.

The kitchen is empty, not that I would expect for it to be occupied at this ungodly hour. I opened the fridge and took a quick look. I spotted a carton of milk.

A cup of warm milk sounds about nice right now.

"What's that?" Laura pointed to something else in the fridge and I peered at what she is pointing at.

"Chocolate." I replied absentmindedly before I realised something.

"You never had chocolate before?"

She shook her head.

"You are missing out." I grabbed the packet of chocolate and placed it in her hands, ignoring the post-it note pasted on the packet of chocolate that has the words 'THIS BELONGS TO CLINT' written on it. Surely the archer wouldn't mind sharing his chocolates with a little girl?

"Here, try it. I doubt anyone will care if a packet of chocolate goes missing. It's tasty."

That is all the prompting Laura needs before she tears open the packet of chocolate. I poured myself a glass of milk and heated it up. Laura had finished the entire packet by then. I can tell that she had enjoyed the treat and is wanting more.

"Are there more?"

"I'm afraid not." That was the only packet of chocolate in the fridge as far as I can see. "You will have to ask the adults for more tomorrow if you really want to eat them."

"Like the one walking here right now?"

"The one walking here right now?" I asked puzzledly.

"I can hear his footsteps." She pointed to another corridor leading to the kitchen where we are at. Sure enough, an adult made his appearance about ten seconds later.

Tony Stark

"You know, when I agreed to take the two of you in, I wasn't expecting to be housing two kitchen raiders." He said in what he thinks is funny but is absolutely lost on the both of us. Laura have no sense of humour and mine had been mostly erased during my confinement in the glass tank. Floating around in a tank aimlessly for more than a decade can do a lot to take away one's personality and sense of self. I'm not even sure how I am still able to remain functional.

"I want chocolate." Laura said immediately. "Give me chocolate."

"Wow, claw girl knows how to make demands already." Tony remarked as he too made his way to the fridge and took out some yucky looking green mixture before downing it in one gulp.

"I didn't demand, I asked."

"That, claws, was a _demand_." Tony insisted as he waved a disapproving finger in front of Laura, who tried to bite it off.

"Whoa! Calm down, missy. My fingers aren't made of chocolate!"

"I want chocolate." She said again as she stared straight at him. I'm surprised that she is so docile today. Usually she would just go in claws unsheathed to get what she wants. The only way that Laura knows to solve problems is violence.

"Add in a _please, Tony_ and I might consider."

"Please Tony."

"Not sincere enough."

"Sincere?"

"Meaning it must sound more… what's that word? Genuine. Yes, genuine." Tony confirmed with a nod of his head.

"I didn't try to stab you with my claws. Rey said that I shouldn't use my claws unless I feel threatened. I'm trying to follow what he said."

"Well, he is threatening to not give you your chocolate unless you say please." I drawled out with a knowing smirk, knowing that this will backfire on Tony.

"So he is threatening me?"

"In a way."

"So I can use my claws?" Laura asked me again as her claws popped out with an audible 'zing'. It immediately got Tony backpedalling a few metres back. Not going to lie, I nearly burst out laughing at his actions. Not like distancing himself will help him. Such short distances had never mattered to Laura before.

"Ok, ok! Chocolate! I get it! Chocolate! There will be chocolate for you tomorrow morning! An entire box of it! Just put away the claws!"

"That sounded… sincere?" Laura asked me with a tilt of her head.

"Well, his life was at stake…" I trailed off.

"That was _coercion_." Tony disapproved of my actions, knowing that I purposely got him into trouble. He shook his head exaggeratedly. "Bad kids. Bad, bad kids."

"Well, we were experiments born for the sole purpose of killing others. You expect us to be angels?" I shot back harshly, more than what was necessary. I regretted doing so right after. What was I doing, taking out my frustrations on someone who had nothing but the best interests for me?

The look on Tony's face showed that he has no idea on what to do after I said that. He stuttered a bit but settled on asking an unrelated question to change the mood.

"So, uh, why are you two not in your bed at this time of the night?"

"Rey had nightmares. Then he woke up and asked me if I want anything from the kitchen. I followed."

"Nightmares?" Tony turned to me and asked. I'm not sure if that was concern I detected in his voice. We only knew each other for a short while and while I know that he can be selfless, there isn't a reason for him to be worried for me or Laura. In fact, he should be afraid of us. He isn't wearing a suit right now. Defenceless. Laura and I can easily kill him if we choose to.

"Been having them ever since I blew up the village." I responded honestly. "Woke up a few times every night. Got a little better recently."

"Wish I could help you, kid, but I am in no state to be helping others as it is. I find doing something to take your mind off whatever you are thinking about to be quite helpful, if you happen to be seeking advices."

I looked to Tony as I sipped on my milk. Is he speaking from experience? What would he have nightmares about? He is Tony freaking Stark. He just saved the world from aliens-

_Oh_

* * *

"The alien invasion must have affected you. You have nightmares as well."

Tony opened his mouth, obviously wanting to deny what Rey has just spoke, but no words came out of it.

He will be damned. This kid is smart.

"Yes, I supposed you are right." He admitted after a while and grumbled under his breath. "I'm starting to suspect that I am suffering from a form of PTSD."

"And you just recommended the idea of overworking yourself as a solution to a kid with nightmares? Really?"

"It worked for me."

"What are you working on anyway?" Laura asked. Tony is happy to see that those scary looking claws are gone. _For now_. He should start looking on a way to protect himself from those scary, scary claws. Yup, that will be his next project when he finally gets some sleep.

"Creating an army of Iron Mans to defeat the big, bad, scary Laura. Boo."

"You might need to get some help for your PTSD issues." The boy said as he sat down beside the girl. "Overworking yourself cannot be healthy."

"I need an army. Iron Man alone is simply not enough to help defend the world. There are aliens out there." Tony said simply as he sat opposite the children. Wait, why is he even talking to them about this? They are only children.

He blames the lack of sleep in the last 48 hours as the culprit behind his out of character behaviour right now.

"There's no need to do everything by yourself. You have a team for a reason."

"And what if even the team isn't enough?"

"Then get stronger together." Laura said immediately. "Like what Rey and I are doing right now. You are an adult. If we can do it, you can too."

He really shouldn't have talked about his PTSD with children. He should have known better. It's not like they can help him, being as young as they are.

Still, he has to admit that talking to them did relieve him a little bit of stress. Even if it was just a little. He can probably go to sleep now.

"Maybe you are right." Tony shrugged as he starts to make his way out of the kitchen. He won't be seeing them until sometime later since he will be out like a light, but he is glad that he talked to them nonetheless. Laura is right. He is an adult. If even the children are putting up a fight against their inner demons, he can do it too.

"Don't stay up too late and don't eat everything in the fridge!" He poked his head out to warn the kids from behind a wall right before he left. "Clint and Capsicle don't like to have their food eaten by others! They will fight with you for food!"

He can see the gears in Laura's head turning, like she is contemplating on whether it is worth eating everything in the fridge to goad the two mentioned Avengers into a fight. From what they know so far, Laura is a battle junkie and will never say no to a good fight. Tony chuckled to himself. Let the Capsicle handle that. It's a pity that he won't be there to see the straight-laced man clean up the mess. He should mess around with his fellow Avengers more often, it is kind of fun.

He will have to remember to get the chocolates he promised Laura. Can't forget about those chocolates. Small price to pay for not being on the receiving end of those scary claws.

* * *

"What are you drawing?"

"There's this mission I remembered I did back in this place called Los Angeles. It was fun, so I thought it would be nice to draw it out."

Steve took a look at the drawing Laura had drawn with crayons. He had suggested the young girl to take up drawing like he did, and Laura was enamoured at his own drawings when she first saw it. It was why she decided to try drawing.

All Laura can manage are stick figures now, but there is no mistaking the number of dead bodies she drew and then colouring a shade of red over it to depict how bloody the scene was. Rey is currently at the basement, with Clint training him in basic combat so that he can better protect himself and not rely so much on his powers for self-defence. Clarice, the mutant with the ability to open portals, had took a liking to Rey as well, and is also at the basement cheering Rey on. In her own words, she is 'giving Rey moral support'.

"This was one of the better times you can remember?"

"The mission was easy and I didn't get shot or stabbed, so it was better times."

Steve did not know how to respond to that, and judging from how Logan went silent from where he is sitting beside Laura, he have absolutely no idea on what to say too.

"Why don't you try drawing something pretty? Like flowers or trees?" Natasha stepped in as she subtly switched out the red crayons with brighter colours like orange and yellow. Steve and Logan heaved a sigh of relief. Natasha is a godsend.

The X-Men and the Avengers had agreed upon the arrangements to be made when it comes to Rey and Laura. It is an unprecedented arrangement as mutants and humans had never come together before to solve issues that deals with national security. Mutants are a reclusive group of people and are not well-received by the public and even the government, but the Avengers have no idea on how to help mutants learn how to control their power. They also can't just hoist the problem off to the X-Men due to the magnitude of destruction Rey can possibly cause if something does go wrong. The Avengers have to keep an eye on him because it is now their job to do so.

The Avengers are mostly welcoming of the X-Men's presence. Well, to Logan, mostly, since he is the one staying in the tower for the foreseeable future whereas the rest of his fellow X-Men only needs to come back once every while to help teach Rey how to control his powers. Clarice, also known as Blink, took over the role of being Rey's mentor since her power is most similar to his. Kurt, also known as Nightcrawler, sometimes tag along as well.

Everyone agreed that it is too dangerous right now for Rey to be out of their sights due to how catastrophic his powers can be, powers that he have not much control over yet. One of the two groups must keep an eye on him round the clock, not just for his own safety, but also for those around him. Rey has an unknown apprehension to follow the X-Men back to the X-Mansion back at Westchester, and the Avengers cannot just relinquish their hold on Rey without facing repercussions from the various world governments. Thus, with these two factors in mind, it was agreed that the children will continue to stay with the Avengers since Rey and Laura comes in a package deal. Rey has been identified as the cause of the recent massacre in Africa and while governments have agreed to not kill him outright due to his young age and the circumstances in which he was in before he came to light, he is under the UN's watchlist. The Avengers is tasked to keep an eye on him and if need be, eliminate Rey if he proves himself to be too big a threat. Terms and conditions were hashed out between Nick and Xavier, many of which Logan couldn't bother himself to care about other than the important few.

For one, the X-Men will drop by at least once a week to check on the children and teach them, mainly Rey, on how to control their powers. Blink and Nightcrawler will be guiding Rey while Logan will teach Laura how to better keep her more primal and bestial instincts in check. Secondly, Rey and Laura have the freedom to choose whether they want to be part of the Avengers or join the X-Men later on in life, or even choosing to live an ordinary life if they so wish provided they don't misuse their powers. Thirdly, the Avengers are responsible for the children's safety while they are taking residence in the Avengers stronghold, a condition which the superheroes had readily agreed to as well.

There are also talks on collaborations. Xavier had viewed this as a possible opportunity for mutants to work together alongside humans, offering to help the Avengers deal with international problems should they ever need their aid. They also offer their expertise in dealing with any potential mutant related problems, like the one they have on hand right now. Nick Fury took a while to consider this proposal before saying that he will have to clear it with his superiors before giving him a proper answer. From the looks of it, the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. is not averse to this idea, which is a good sign. If all goes well, the Avengers can look forward to having mutants joining their ranks soon as part of their collaboration efforts. Logan himself had volunteered if things do pan out in this manner. It will allow him to have an excuse to stay in the Avengers Tower for however long he wants so that he can keep his daughter company.

The X-Men knows that working with the Avengers may bring about benefits for mutantkind. Mutants are still feared in many parts of society and around the world, and most of them had went into hiding as a result. Even their school is a private one hidden away from privy eyes. But if they can portray themselves on the same side as humans, humans that are non-mutants, there is a chance that they can be accepted instead of persecuted by humans. There is a chance for the professor's vision to come through, that mutants and humans can work and live together.

Mutants will not need to live in fear any longer.

On the first day he met his daughter, before they left the X-Mansion to head to the Avengers Tower, Logan had asked if he could stay in the Avengers Tower. It is a decision he had arrived after thinking long and hard about it. His daughter, Laura, is obviously emotionally attached to Rey and she wouldn't be leaving the Avengers Tower to live with him anytime soon if Rey stays there. But he is her father. Even if this is a responsibility that was saddled on him from nowhere, it is one that he is willing to take. If she cannot move out, then he will move in. He wasn't there for the past 11 years of her life, but he can be there for her from now onwards, starting from the day they first met.

Tony Stark had readily agreed when asked and Nick saw no problems with it, saying that it is reassuring that an adult mutant is here to help keep an eye on the volatile Laura. Tony even offered a luxurious room for him in the tower situated next to the one Laura and Rey are given. Laura did not like the idea of leaving Rey's side, not even a single bit, and she threw a violent tantrum whenever suggestions of her being separated from Rey was being mentioned. In the end, the adults simply agreed to put the two children in a single room to placate her.

That was the start of Logan's life living under the same roof with the Avengers.

He had struck up a friendship with Steve Rogers, who recognised him on sight and even knew his name when Logan had not given it to him. According to Steve, they had fought together briefly during World War II, even if Logan's memories about that particular period were hazy at best and absent at worst. Still, it is a comfort to him that there are people out there that might know about his forgotten past. It also helps that Steve had proved to him that he can be trusted shortly after Logan moved in. Steve is a good person to have as a friend and they even sparred a few times, something that Logan enjoy doing. Natasha and Clint are fine as well, and the two of them are proving to be a great help in his quest to be a good father to Laura. Tony is fun to be around with due to his witty character and Logan can appreciate a good joke or two every now and then. Bruce remains quiet most of the time, but Logan feels that he is a nice enough person.

Overall, Logan had an enjoyable time here thus far.

He has close to no idea on how to be a father to Laura. On the Avengers' side, only Clint has kids on his own, so the archer had imparted to him a few words of wisdom. Not all of them are applicable considering how different Laura is from a normal child, but at least Logan have some form of support.

He soon found out that like him, Laura is a kinaesthetic learner. She learns best when she is physically doing what she was taught. Hence, Logan wasted no time in doing some father-daughter bonding by crossing blades (_or in their case, adamantium claws_) as they sparred with each other, with him teaching her about the various forms of combat arts he had picked up in the numerous wars he had participated in. Rey joins in sometimes, although Logan have to seriously pull his punches lest he accidentally killed the young boy.

Rey is obviously untrained in any form of combat, something that the Black Widow and Hawkeye had taken upon themselves to help fix in their free time. Personally, Logan thinks that the two agents simply want to find something fun to do in their free time and Rey just happens to be the fun the two need. On the weekly visits that Blink is here, she will guide Rey on how to better control his powers and how to use it for teleportation purposes by creating portals. Rey is making good progress, which allows everyone to heave a sigh of relief. The probability of Rey's powers blowing up in their face goes down drastically with every improvement that he made.

Upon Xavier's and Nick's persuasion, Rey reluctantly offered a sample of his blood to Bruce and Tony so that the two scientific genius can help create a device to restrain his powers when needed. Rey's admission that such a device was created by his creator proved that it can be done. Bruce and Tony finished the first prototype in the first week that Logan was here, a simple bracelet to be worn around Rey's wrist. It is a device that Rey uses to completely restrain his powers whenever he is having training in the combat arts with Natasha, so that he wouldn't accidentally set off a spatial explosion during the training. With the bracelet, Natasha and Clint can train Rey as they come at him with the intent to kill. It is a roundabout way to help Rey to overcome his fear of death. Such a training method helps him to control his fear from overtaking him to a certain degree by slowly letting him get used to having dangerous situations thrown his way. Natasha and Clint trained him in various dangerous weaponry and also in unarmed combat and while Rey is just an amateur, his progress is satisfactory even by the standards of the former Russian assassin and the archer.

Making Rey stronger while helping him to control his fear better. This plan is like killing two birds with one stone, as people like to say.

Before he knew it, two months had passed. Two months of living together with the Avengers and his daughter. Currently, everyone feels like good progress has been made so far, especially when it comes to helping Rey control his immense power. The other problem that had the adults scratching their heads is a slightly different one.

How do they help the children integrate back into society?

Having no interaction with children their age will prove to be a problem. It's not like they can send them to a normal school either and Rey, and by extension Laura, has no wish to go to the one Xavier had set up. They cannot find anything to argue otherwise because both Rey and Laura are progressing well in their studies thus far, even when they are home schooled in the Avengers Tower.

Rey still has some lingering fear that his power may very well lose control even among fellow mutants. No matter how the X-Men tried to convince him otherwise, that they are strong enough to prevent the worst-case scenario from happening, Rey just didn't budge. Personally, Logan felt that Rey is very scared of the Professor's abilities to read minds, even if the boy never said a word about it. It is understandable, Rey is not the only one with such a fear towards the Professor. The Professor had long since gotten used to such sentiments, so he wasn't the least bit offended when Logan told him his suspicions. Why would they be angry at an innocent child anyway?

In any case, they have to come up with the next best plan to help the children.

"A walk?"

"Around the city." Logan confirmed as his daughter stared up at him. "When was the last time the two of you left the tower?"

"Never."

"Exactly. You need to know how the world works if you ever want to be part of it. You need to know how to interact with complete strangers. C'mon, get changed. I will wait for you and Rey at the lounge. Nat and Steve are coming too."

"Okay."

Without a hint of disobedience, Laura walked back to her shared room with Rey. Once you earned Laura's trust, she trusts without question. Like a loyal soldier that never question the orders given to him. Logan is still working on breaking her out of her soldier upbringing, but that is an uphill task in itself. He has his work cut out for him.

"Going shopping?" Tony asked the moment Logan walked into the lounge. On the table are various blueprints of what is possibly the plans of making new armoured suits.

"Yeah, getting some parent-child time. You know it." Logan said gruffly as he poured himself a drink and sat down opposite the genius. "You want to come?"

"I will pass." Tony waved the offer off. "Have suits to make, plans to draft, things like that. You know it. How is it, being a father?"

"Not too bad, to be honest." Logan admitted. "I'd thought that it would be harder, but the fact that we are quite similar helps." He let his claws shoot out for extra effect before retracting it.

"Uh… cool. Maybe I should add in some claws for my new suits."

"I can sue you for copyright."

"You have a patent for your claws? Where?" Tony pretended to look around frantically and the two men shared a laugh over the lame joke.

"I really hope S.H.I.E.L.D. or the UN will allow you mutants to join us. We really could use someone like you. If the X-Men want to show the world that there is no reason to be afraid of you mutants or something like that, I think having some of you joining us will be a good step forward."

"As long as the professor and Nick are fine with it." Logan shifted the topic to the wisest mutant that he knows. At that moment, Laura and Rey entered with Natasha and Steve, who are wearing casual clothing that also helps to disguise their looks. Steve is wearing a cap with shades over his eyes, complete with a normal polo tee, jeans, and sneakers. Natasha is wearing a hoodie while the rest of her attire are similar to Steve's.

"We are ready." Steve called out. "Tony, you need anything?"

"Nah, I'm good. Have fun, don't miss me too much and don't thrash too many stores!" Tony directed the last part to Laura, who looks genuinely confused.

"Why would I do that?"

"Considering your temperament, I think thrashing a store is the best-case scenario that might happen."


	5. Chapter 5- Day Out

"Alright, remember, _no claws_, _no **killing**_, _no attacking_ anyone that you don't like. If there's anything that you don't understand, tell us so we can help you. If you talk to strangers or they talk to you, be polite. Remember to keep your inner beast in control. Can you do that?"

Laura gave a small nod at Logan's words, but that doesn't really give the adults any sense of relief. Laura tends to fly off the handle whenever she got riled up or excited. Luckily for them, Rey is also here with her. He is the only one that can get her to calm down and listen.

Laura had obviously not seen much of the outside world despite her previous career as an assassin. Her previous handler had most likely let her out only when they needed her skills. Laura keeps on staring at the various things that caught her attention and would have wandered off many times if it wasn't for Rey grabbing onto her hand to prevent that from happening.

"What's that?"

"I think that's cotton candy." Rey answered without missing a beat.

"It is." Natasha replied to Laura's curious question with a smile. "Want one?"

Five minutes later, a very happy Laura walked down the streets of New York with Rey grabbing onto her hand while she enjoys the treat. The disguised Avengers walked behind them together with Logan.

"That's easier than I thought it would be. I'm half-expecting something to go wrong today."

"Don't jinx it, Logan."

Wandering the streets of New York have obvious positive effects on Laura. She became more inquisitive and she is obviously in a good mood. She is starting to learn how to blend and integrate herself into society. She even learnt how to pay for the things she wants to buy.

"A leather jacket?" Logan looked at the article of clothing that his daughter had insisted on buying. He is not short on cash, so he doesn't see why he cannot indulge Laura's whims. Spoiling his own child is part of the description of being a father.

"You have one too." She pointed at the jacket that he is currently wearing, although it is just a normal looking one. "So I thought we should match. I just like the colour black more."

That's how both father and daughter both got matching clothing.

They also played some games at the arcade although they had to quickly leave when Laura misjudged her strength and nearly destroyed the street basketball machine when she threw the ball. The hoop was slightly dented. _Slightly_… Only if you tilt your head and squint your eyes real hard.

In the end, instead of making a quiet escape like Logan had suggested, the noble Captain America who is the embodiment of all that is righteous decided to own up for their mistakes and pay for the damages, which cost him quite a bit. But the children had enjoyed the experience, and that is what matters to the adults.

"Movie?" Laura asked in confusion. "We watched that all the time back in the tower."

"Watching movies in _theatres_ is definitely a lot different." Natasha said with a grin. "Come on, you won't regret it."

They decided against horror movies, since the adults are hardened veterans and the children are no stranger to gore and blood due to them being test subjects in the past. Horror movies won't scare anyone in their group and would probably bore them instead. Upon looking the films on show, they found that there is a movie about World War II which narrated the story of Captain America, so they decided to watch it to see how accurate it is. Steve found the idea amusing.

When the movie finished and they got out of the theatre, Steve admitted that at least 50% of the content were either untrue or heavily exaggerated.

Logan had dozed off halfway into the show and Rey was indifferent to the movie. The boy said that if he had to rate it, he would only give it 3 stars out of 5 at the most (_which broke Steve's heart a little since it was **him** that the movies were talking about_). Laura had tons of comments about how the soldiers in the film were dimwits, and how they could have better kill their enemies, taking the war and killing aspect of the film quite seriously. She was about to physically demonstrate her point until the four of them quickly talked her out of it.

No one wants a massacre happening in the streets of New York.

It was dinner time when they exited the theatres, and they decided to head to a fast food restaurant when Laura told them that she never had a burger before.

* * *

"Slow down." I glanced in their direction when Logan chuckled as he ruffled his daughter's hair lovingly. Laura is eating way too fast, she will choke at this rate. "Your burger isn't going anywhere."

"Ish nishe." Laura mumbled through her bites with her mouth full. I simply ate my food silently, too hungry to be bothered with talking any further.

"I have a feeling that she just found her new favourite food." Natasha said jokingly as she ate hers.

"For all we know, the next thing she will be trying to do would be to make her own burger." I add on.

"I don't think that will end well." Steve supplied helpfully. "She will probably cut the entire kitchen up in one swipe."

"Tony won't be too happy about that."

"Cut the kitchen? Sounds fun. I can try to see if I can do that." Laura said as she held her hand out and the tips of her claws are starting to emerge.

"_Laura! No!_" Logan hissed out in a loud whisper as he quickly pushed Laura's hands down the table to hide it from view. "No claws, remember?!"

"Oh." She said in realisation before going back to munch on her burger.

"Close call." Natasha muttered.

"You can say that again." Steve agreed.

**_BANGBANGBANG!_**

The sounds of gunshots immediately got people in the restaurant to either scream, jump out of their seats, or turn to the source of the sound. Some did all three.

"A robbery?"

True to Natasha's words, there is a robbery being committed in broad daylight at the Money Changer just right opposite where we are. Laura had automatically unsheathed her claws at the sound and it would have been spotted if I didn't quickly push her hands below the table to hide it.

"Alright, _stay calm_." Steve directed his words to us and his gaze lingered at Laura for a second longer than necessary, a hand held up to us in a manner that is supposed to placate Laura from going full berserk. "We will be _right back_. Logan, you stay here with the kids, okay? Nat and I won't take long."

Steve and Nat immediately ran out to help, leaving us with Logan.

"Dad, you aren't helping?" Laura turned to her father, who simply shrugged.

"They are heroes. They can handle a simple robbery."

As if trying to prove him wrong, a loud explosion could be heard right after he said those words before the shop opposite us burst into flames.

"Simple robbery." Laura said sceptically with a flat look on her face.

"I'm sure everything will be fin-"

**_BOOM!_**

Another explosion occurred. By now, even I am a little worried about Steve and Nat. They don't have their usual combat gear with them and they have to stop the robbers on top of possibly trying to save civilians in a burning building. I am not doubting their capabilities, but none of them have superpowers whatsoever, unless you count the effects of the Super Soldier Serum as one.

"Logan?" I asked with my voice going a little higher than usual. "Maybe they really need some help."

"Maybe they do." Logan said with a sigh as he stood up and was about to walk off before he paused in his tracks. He then turned to Laura.

"Remember, no claws-"

"No killing, no attacking anyone that I don't like." Laura recited back dutifully.

"Good." He said as he ruffled her hair and then turned to me.

"You are the sensible one here. Make sure she doesn't get into trouble. We won't be long."

"I'll try."

Logan left to help Steve and Natasha without much fanfare as we returned back to eating our meal. Many of the diners around us are still trying to see what is going on, some even have their phones out trying to record what the commotion is about. A few wiser ones had abandoned their meals and quickly left. Laura steals a few glances towards the burning store every now and then between her bites, obviously interested in what is going on.

**_BANGBANGBANG!_**

"Hands up! Don't move! Keep quiet!"

My mouth opened in surprise as a group of masked gunmen stormed into the restaurant, guns pointing at the terrified civilians. _Why are we in this mess?!_ And why are these robbers trying to rob a restaurant in broad daylight?!

After double checking that the bracelet I always wore on my person is fully suppressing my powers since I don't want to accidentally trigger a spatial explosion, I physically held Laura back and shook my head at her, trying to convey to her that now is _not_ the time to murder these gunmen even if I know that she can easily win.

"They are dangerous, but I can kill them before they kill us." She hissed at me when I physically pulled her down and tried to hide ourselves where we are sitting at. Hopefully, they wouldn't spot us.

I mean, _hopefully_, Laura wouldn't spot them coming over and _hopefully_, she doesn't suddenly decide to stab them with her claws. I don't want to explain to the public how a little girl managed to brutally kill a group of armed men with metal claws protruding from her fists.

Besides, I heavily doubt that these men will kill unless they are pushed into a corner. They probably just want to make a quick heist before going on their merry way. They don't seem to be very smart either from how clumsy they are committing this robbery.

"Remember what Logan said? _No claws_. Just give them what they need and they will leave us alone. Your identity as a mutant _cannot_ be revealed here." I whispered back, trying to calm her down before her berserker instincts took over.

"But Dad-"

"He's very strong, so he doesn't need his claws to save people, right? He's not exposing himself. What you are planning to do is different."

"Everything out!" One of the gunmen went about with a large sack as he pointed his rifle at a group of terrified diners, demanding them to deposit all their valuables in there. I discreetly tap on the emergency button on the phone Tony had kindly gave me and Laura. It is a function Tony had installed just in case Laura or I are somehow left alone and we need urgent help from them. Hopefully, someone in the Avengers Tower will pick up the message.

"Rey. Can I just knock them out?"

"You might risk revealing your healing ability." I whispered back. "We will just lay low for now. The adults should be back soon."

I can hear a rebellious low growl reverberating from her throat, but she complied anyway.

"Okay."

The gunmen skipped us when he got around to our corner, probably presuming that we won't have any valuables on us since we are only just kids. He was just about to walk away from us when Steve made his entrance just at the wrong time.

"Hey, relax." Steve raised his hands up slowly from where he is at the main door where suddenly every gun in the restaurant is currently pointing at him. His cap and sunglasses are now gone, revealing his face to the world. His identity is public knowledge, so everyone recognises him on sight. He looks a little dishevelled and there is soot on his clothes and face, probably something he had gotten from trying to save people in the fire that is still raging opposite us.

The gunman in front of us had immediately turned to face Steve and pointed his weapon at him the moment Steve entered, showing his back to us. We saw Steve giving us a quick wink in our direction and subtly jerked his head to the left. We glanced in the direction he gestured to us and spotted Natasha outside the restaurant with a pistol in hand through the glass panes. She pointed at the gunman closest to us, who is showing us his back now that Steve have everyone's attention.

We got the hint immediately.

Laura jumped. She wrapped her legs around the gunman's neck to choke him and used her hands to cover his eyes, blocking his sight. I crouched low and gave a harsh kick at the back of his knees that Clint had taught me to do, knocking the gunman off his feet and bringing him to the floor. A powerful elbow strike from Laura to the man's face knocked him out immediately.

At the same time, Nat broke through the glass window and immediately opened fire at a few gunmen, bringing them down before they could react. Steve had used an overturned table as a shield to close the distance before grabbing a plate lying nearby and threw it like a frisbee. Except that this flying frisbee was thrown with such force that it immediately knocked the closest gunman into blissful unconsciousness. An angry Logan had used the distraction to burst through from the back door, slamming a metal tray he picked up from somewhere on the head of a gunman who was caught unaware. Said gunman flopped onto the ground unceremoniously after that.

The last gunman tried to open fire at Logan, but Steve reached him first and tackled him to the floor and wrestled the weapon away from his grip. The gunman didn't last very long against the Captain America.

The whole process probably took only about five seconds in total.

Everyone who were in the restaurant cheered and whooped at the splendid rescue operation when the gunmen were taken down. Some of them were chanting '_Captain America'_ over and over again, some were just hollering excitedly. I can see some citizens busy snapping photos and some of them going up to personally thank Steve. There were a few who went up to thank Logan as well, and it is quite a funny sight to see the usually gruff man acting so awkwardly. There were probably a few who wanted to thank Nat and maybe Laura and I as well, but we won't know as Nat had swiftly used the brief moment of chaos to grab onto our arms and drag us out of there.

"That was fun. We should explore New York again some other time." Laura whispered excitedly to me as Nat pulled us along, one of us in each hand.

"Fun for _you_. **_We_** nearly had a heart attack." Nat chided back. "We just left you for a short while and you two got yourselves involved with a robbery."

"Wasn't our fault. They just appeared out of nowhere. I'm sure if they knew that the Captain America, Black Widow, and the Wolverine were nearby, they wouldn't have the guts to try and rob the place that they were eating at." I retorted.

"Touché." Nat replied with a wry grin. "The both of you aren't hurt, are you?"

"No. I think the gunman Laura elbowed had a broken nose though."

"I was about to stab him with my claws until I remembered that Dad said '_no claws'_, so I elbowed him instead."

"Good job, Laura." Nat praised. Given that this is Laura we are talking about, the amount of self-restraint she showed earlier was definitely worthy of praise. "You did well."

"Would be easier if I could just stab him."

"Nat, are you bringing us back to the tower?" I asked when I recognised the route she took us on.

"That was enough scare for us in a single day. Steve can handle the clean-up. I will send the two of you back where everything is safer."

"I haven't finished my burger." Laura stated and I couldn't help but blink at that statement. Did she just…

"Laura, did you just whine?"

"Did I?"

"I think that counted as a whine. For her, at least." Natasha said happily as she patted Laura with a hand. "I think that's a good improvement from when we first found you. You are starting to show more emotions."

"Because I… whined?"

"Because you are starting to show more emotions instead of acting like a robot or a beast when we first found you two. It's a good start. And Rey, good thinking in sending us a message, although that was unnecessary seeing as we were just opposite the street. We could hear the gunshots quite clearly."

"Actually, I just wanted to see if I can lure Tony to arrive in his Iron Man suit." I answered truthfully. "I personally haven't seen him in action before."

Like, seriously. I had lived in the Avengers Tower for two months and yet I had not seen Tony in his suit before. WHY?! It's **_IRONMAN_**!

"Sorry to disappoint you." Natasha said dryly, her tone dryer than the Sahara Desert. "But we told Tony that we had it covered, so he won't be coming down."

"Is this my cue to whine?" I asked cheekily.

"If you want to whine, do it to Tony. He freaks out when children got too close to him. Whine at Tony."

"Why Tony?" Laura asked with unconcealed curiosity.

Natasha's eyes gleamed, and I don't need to be a genius to know that she is hatching some sort of devious plan that involves 'Laura' and 'whine'.

"Do you want chocolate? _Free_ chocolates?"

"Uh huh." Laura nodded enthusiastically as I facepalmed. Of course, Laura will do _anything_ for chocolates.

"Then this is how you do it…"

* * *

"Tony~"

Anthony Edward Stark jumped on his seat at the sound that just sent shivers crawling up and down his spine, skin, muscles, and every single nerve through his body.

**_What_**_ was that?_

He spun around, and spotted the girl looking up at him. When had she gotten to his back without him realising it?

"Claws, _what_ was **_that_**?"

"Nat said that this is called a whine, and I should practice it on you."

Damn it, Nat.

"Did you freak out? Nat said you would."

"Freak out? I _jumped_ in my skin!"

"How did you jump in your skin?" Laura asked in genuine confusion with a tilt of her head. Tony can only resist the urge to sigh.

"It's a figure of speech, claws."

"Figure of speech?"

"Look up the dictionary when you have the free time." Tony quickly waved it off before the inquisitive girl began to bombard him with a long list of questions. He pointed a finger at Laura before going back to his work.

"Just **_don't_** whine at me again, okay?"

"Why? _Tony_~"

Tony shivered once more. Oh God, _why_ is this happening to him? He is already highly allergic to any and all children. **_Stop_** this madness, _please_.

"_Chocolate_. If you don't whine at me, I will give you a packet of chocolate."

"Four."

Tony stared in disbelief at Laura. Is she trying to _bargain_ with him?

In any case, it will be worth it as long as she stops that damn whining.

"Two."

"Deal."

Tony's eye twitched. He has a feeling that he just got scammed by a child. This has Nat's paw prints all over it, that Russian assassin must have taught claws a thing or two about how to bargain with people. His pride as a Stark dictate that he absolutely has to find a way to get back at Natasha.

"Four packets for you if you help me tease Nat and Bruce about their relationship every single time you see them."

"Tease?"

"Just keep saying things like '_Hey Nat, do you like Bruce?_' or '_Hey Bruce, do you like Nat?_'. That kind of things. Whine _at **them**_ if you have to. Or ask Rey, he will know what I'm talking about. Just keep teasing them and you will get your chocolates."

"Will Rey have chocolates too if he helps?"

"Yes. Four for you, and four for him."

"Eight for each of us, or no deal."

No way he will let a girl less than half his age exploit him for _chocolates_. He is **_Tony_**_ freaking **Stark**. _He will _not _be bested by a _child_.

He held out his right hand before showing all five fingers in a slow and dramatic fashion befitting of a Stark.

"…Five."

Laura turned around to walk away and Tony stood speechless at where he is, momentarily stunned. How is the addict of all things chocolate not moved by his offer of five packets of chocolate? It's **FIVE** packets of chocolate!

Nevertheless, he really wants his revenge on Nat for sending Laura at him.

"Six!" He hollered out just right before Laura disappeared around the corner.

"Deal!"

Tony was stunned into silence once again. He **_definitely_** just got scammed by a child from how claws had agreed so readily.

Scammed. By a child.

For _chocolates_.

Damn it. He's really losing his touch.

"JARVIS?"

_"Yes, boss?"_

"Order twelve packets of those Hershey chocolates."

He better orders them before the scary claws were being pointed at him again. The last time he forgot to give Laura her promised chocolates, he nearly got his face clawed off if it wasn't for Pepper there to calm the girl down. _Thank God for Pepper_. He's never making the same mistake again. Facing a chocolate-deprived Laura is infinitely scarier than facing Loki's army.

_"Should I order more, boss?"_

"Why should I?"

_"Past statistics showed that you have been ordering at least twenty packets of chocolates per week on average for the last two months. Twelve packets won't be enough."_

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes, and took in a deep breath.

Damn it.

"Just order five boxes and be done with it. It will last us for this month, at least."

_"Yes boss."_


End file.
